Oscar Wilde's Life and Themes: From Dublin Scholar to Dorian Gray, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Oscar Wilde's Life and Themes: From Dublin Scholar to Dorian Gray e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! OSCAR WILD TS LIFE He grew up in Dublin in a rich family, his father was a well known doctor (surgeon, hear and eye doctor) and his mother was a writer and his house was attende by famous people because his family was a well known family. He first studied at Trinity college in Dublin and he studied classical literature, and he was in particularly good at Latin and Greek and he was very good translating from Latin and Greek. He was a very clever student at Trinity College that he won a scholarship for the Magdalen College in Oxford, and he continue to study classical literature, in Oxford he met Walter Pater who was the main representative of the English Aesthetes and through him Wilde was introduced to the principals of aestheticism. He decided to live in London e and he never went back to Ireland except for short trips. During the period at Magdale College he had very long hair, he wore velvet clothes and often had sunflowers in his hand, in his room he had peacock feathers (piuns di pavone), many blue ceramic objects. he was an excellent student but not a model student he had many parties with his friends, and sometimes because of his behaviour he was expelled from Magdalen College. He was very extravagant and eccentric because it follows the values ofthe aesthetes. He graduated with excellent grades. When he left Magdalene College he wrote a collection of poems which were not appreciated by the critics. Oscar Wilde was well introduced in the society of this time he was a very witty man. He was asked to go on a lecture tour (= tour di conferenze) to the United States and to explain the Americans the principals of aestheticism. HIs lectures were very successful and the tour lasted for one year and this was the start of his career. When he went back to England he got married and had two children and he wrote his short stories like “The happy Prince and Other Tales”, “The House of Pomegranates” and “The Canterville Ghost" which were appreciated then in 1891 he wrote “The Picture of Dorian Gray” that was the ONLY novel he wrote. In England at the time and also now Oscar Wild is not famous for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” but for his society plays (= opere teatrali che raccontavano della società) In “The Picture of Dorian Gray” he criticises the materialism and the hypocrisy of the Victorian Age very sharply and in the plays he does the same thing but he uses a more subtle (= light) irony because they are also funny. In Italy Oscar Wild is famous for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” because we have D'Annunzio who was the main representative of the Italian Aesthetes with his novel “The Pleasure” (= ll piacere) from 1893 to 1905 Oscar Wilde was very famous, and with his plays he became very rich but at the height of his success something happened: he was involved in a legal case which brought him to ruin. In 1903 Oscar Wilde that was about 40 met Lord Alfred Douglass (Bosie), who was about 20, and they began a love affair and Boise introduced Oscar Wilde to male prostitution circles because of money. Oscar Wilde tried to satisfy all Boise's whims. One day Boises's father left a card at the club addressed to Wilde and in the card he accused Oscar Wilde of homosexuality; Oscar Wide was accused publically because a lot of people read the card. So Oscar Wilde started a legal prosecution for defamation again Boise's father. Oscar Wilde friends told him not to do. The marquess (= marchese) hired (= employed) some good lawyers and some good detectives that discovered that Oscar Wilde had a love affair not only with Boise. At the time homosexuality was illegal so Wilde was sentenced to two years’ hard labour. Oscar Wilde in prison in 1898 wrote “The Ballad of the Reading Gaol" about the living conditions of prisoners. In 1905 he wrote “De Profundis" to Lord Douglas that he could never send. When he left prison went to French and never went to England again, and his plays were not long represented. The Picture of Dorian Gray THE PREFACH pag.286 The artist is the creator of beautiful things. The critics are those who = sono coloro che can express her opinion on beautiful things because is her job, but they are not artist, when they express his idea in what they write they became an autobiography. The people who see bad meanings in beautiful things are corrupt, and this is a mistake =errore The people who find beautiful meaning in a beautiful things are the educated = | colti The people who can appreciate only the beautiful the work of art without try to find any meaning, are unique and speciale, are the elect. = eletti There aren't a moral or immoral books, books are only written good or bad. No =nessun artist has ethical intentions =intenti etici, because ethical intentions are unforgivable =imperdonabile. In fact, no artist has never morbid =Mmorboso The artist can express everything without moral issues. AII art is both surface =superfici and symbol. The people who go beyond =al di là the surface, do this at their danger = pericolo, because there is a controversial meaning. The people who read the symbol do this at their danger. Art reflect =rispecchia the spectator and not the life. The diversity of opinion around a work of art =opra d’arte shows that the work is new, complex = complessa and vital. In fact, when the critics disapprove =disapprovano, the artist is in accord =coerente with him self. We can forgive a man who making a useful =utile things on condition that he doesn't admire it, because useful isn't art. All art is useless =inutile, because in his opinion art must be useless because art must be beauty. CHAPTER 2 Baisil is inside and is finishing the portrait and Dorian and Lord Henry Wotton are outside talking. Is the moment when Lord Henry Wotton convinces Dorian to convert to the Aesthetic movement. What does Henry Watton value the most in life? The beauty and youth. What does Henry Watton exhorts Dorian to do? He exhorts Dorian to not waste his youth and beauty listening to the boring people (the tedious) who follow moral teachings, who live according to the moral principals because they will try to