Oscar Wilde's Philosophy of Art Liam Lynch
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Department of Media, Culture and Creative Arts Complex Truth from Simple Beauty: Oscar Wilde’s Philosophy of Art Liam Lynch This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University October 2014 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgement has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree in any other university. Signature: ................................................................... Date: ......................................... ABSTRACT In this thesis I analyse a section of the works of playwright, poet, novelist and essayist, Oscar Wilde, with the purpose of interpreting his philosophy of art. The works I interrogate range from his Oxford student notes of 1878-9 to his prose work in 1891. This period includes the phase when Wilde was best known as the aesthete-dandy, during his postgraduate years, but before his fame as a playwright was confirmed. It also predates his conviction, in 1895, for sexual intimacy with other men. While it may be almost impossible for modern readers to separate Wilde’s work from events in his life, analyses of what Wilde actually says in his postgraduate lectures, letters, fiction and mature prose, can help circumvent some of the ambiguities that have arisen about his thinking as a result of his celebrity-notoriety as a dandy, society wit, and sodomite. What underpins this thesis is a re-reading of Wilde’s own statements regarding the relationship between art and society in his writing. These include his assertions, expressed in individual works, about beauty, art, the artist, the critic and the spectator, which are customarily read as contradictory: such contradictions are interpreted here as part of Wilde’s evolving thought, and as being crucial to the dialectical core of his philosophy. Indeed, this thesis interprets Wilde’s philosophy of art as embodying a dialectical relationship, in the Hegelian sense, between the aesthetic, sensual experience of art, and the cognitive contemplation of the artwork. The purpose in restricting the study to the works of this period is to minimise the misrecognitions associated with Wilde’s intentions since the time of his trials and conviction. My research approach, therefore, although it includes analysis of existing biographies of Wilde, isolates Wilde’s ideas – if this is possible – from later events, containing the discussion to the emergence and consolidation of these ideas. The thesis places greater emphasis on arguing for connections between specific influences on Wilde’s philosophy. These influences include his readings of ancient Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle, and readings of Hegelian idealism; his Anglo-Irish heritage, especially the influence of his parents’ attitudes and interests; and particular influences in philosophy from his studies at Oxford. I also undertake an interpretive analysis of Wilde’s student notes, prose work, novel, short fiction, early dramas, and letters, to show Wilde’s contribution to social, political and cultural discourse. Such an approach aims to put Wilde’s aesthetic philosophy back in the spotlight alongside his Irish nationalism, sexuality and celebrity. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To those without whom this thesis would have remained unwritten - To Professor Tim Dolin who, despite his many academic and professional commitments, first accepted then, as my supervisor, cultivated and advanced this thesis with wisdom, knowledge and, in the end, great patience and encouragement. Tim’s extremely high standards have inspired and motivated me over the years. And to David Buchbinder and Margaret McIntyre during the early stages of my writing. - To Fran Willix, my wife (still), for her time, love, support, encouragement, many sacrifices and constant patience, without which this thesis would not have been completed. To my children (still) Dabeet, Dhanya, Mállaidh, Síofra and (Clodagh) who have put up with part-time parenting from me during this thesis. And to Rod and Mary, my parents-in-law, for looking after the children and cooking at a moment’s notice. - To my many, many friends at Curtin University, and especially Joy, Jane, Marilyn, Liz, Scott (RIP), Helen, Thor, Shaphan, Nicola and Michelle, who, at different times and in their individual ways, carried me to this point in time. - To the many sources of informal academic support at the Vege Patch, especially Joan, Phil and Roy who offered several good ideas at important writing times. - To Dr Christina Houen for her tremendous work editing the thesis. - To Gordon, the finest barista in Perth, and the crew at the Vege Patch, who, even when I was looking obviously lost, always sent me away with magnificent coffee—a little less lost. ii CONTENTS DECLARATION ABSTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii INTRODUCTION 1 Secret is Art 3 CHAPTER ONE Hellenic Spirit with Speculative Intent 12 The Greek Spirit 13 Aristotle and That at Which Everything Aims 15 Aristotle, Hegel and Wilde 21 Art, Truth and Complex Beauty 23 Contemplation in the Dialectic 26 CHAPTER TWO The Winds that Shake the Carnation 33 Born Dialectic 34 Losing Sacred Knowledge 38 Knowledge of the Senses 42 Philosophy Underpinning Wilde’s Dialectic 48 Imaginative Life Confirmed 55 iii CHAPTER THREE Aesthetic Ambassador 60 Taking up the Critic’s Life 64 Keats, the Pre-Raphaelites and the ‘Poetical Attitude’ 67 Wilde’s First Beauty 71 Art in Life 76 Some Practical Applications 79 A Democratic Art 83 CHAPTER FOUR Life’s Perfect Expression 86 Artist and Critic 89 Close Encounters 94 Secure Houses of Beauty 99 Child-like Wonder 102 The Un-Happy Prince 104 Pathetic and Tragic 106 CHAPTER FIVE The Immoral Moral 113 The Separation 118 Separation Achieved in Literature 124 The Intellect Takes Over 129 CHAPTER SIX The Un-Misrecognised Aesthetic 135 Converting Facts into Effect 140 Higher Truths 144 The Importance of Ernest and Cyril 146 The Critical Element 150 A Country Called Utopia 157 iv CONCLUSION 162 REFERENCES 171 v Introduction We are overrun by a set of people who, when poet or painter passes away, arrive at the house along with the undertaker, and forget that their one duty is to behave as mutes. … They are the mere body-snatchers of literature. The dust is given to one, and the ashes to another, and the soul is out of their reach. (Holland 2003, 1109) This is how Gilbert describes biographers of great artists as he argues that contemplative criticism is a form of autobiography in Oscar Wilde’s “The Critic as Artist” (1891). Through Gilbert’s statement, Wilde unknowingly (or not) predicted the way in which his own biography would be overrun by those who focused on the dust and ashes or the beauty, wit and martyrdom, and claimed to have exposed his complete soul. Croft-Cooke (1972) lists some of Wilde’s best known biographies to that date and concludes that sanctified legends, including Wilde’s death from syphilis, have been passed down from writer to writer to the point that “fragments of mythology have become solid and unquestioned chapters in the life-story” (15). Croft-Cooke cites one story started by Frank Harris and retold by many others relating the mass exodus of gay men following Wilde’s conviction. He asserts that the story that the Dover-Calais boat was “laden with queer fugitives, becomes an integral part of the traditional story of Wilde, until it threatens to capsize through overcrowding as book after book appears” (17). This thesis argues that Wilde’s sexuality has been accented along with familial eccentricities, his dandyism, social comedies and of course the scandal, conviction and exile, to the point that his broader cultural discourse has been significantly overshadowed. His earlier biographers, many of whom knew Wilde, might be excused for trying to explain, defend or distance him due to the nearness of events. Merlin Holland (1997) talks about the inability of many biographers to peel away onion layers with a fine blade so they “for the most part took rough aim with a meat cleaver” (5). But the same emphasis on his tumultuous scandal is present in more recent biographies and related works. Neil McKenna’s (2005)1 The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, starting with the title, is so focused on recording seedy sexual exploits that even Dorian Gray’s portrait would blush. And the title of Franny Moyle’s (2011) study, Constance: The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs Oscar Wilde, belies an excellent biography 1 Bristow (2013), describing McKenna as someone who seldom shies away from speculation, says “it is the case that we still do not have any evidence to substantiate the idea that Wilde’s homosexual life was as rampant as McKenna would like us to believe” (16). And also criticising writers with a sensationalist approach to Wilde, Pearce (2000) says that some biographies “have sought to sensationalise his life, sacrificing truth on the alter of scandal if necessary” (xiv). 1 of Constance Lloyd’s incredible life-story, only the last three years of which are scandalous and tragic. “So much glory has rarely been followed by so much humiliation,” Richard Ellmann (1987) writes in the introduction to his famous biography of Wilde (xv). Such robust juxtapositioning of fame and infamy has been typical of many writers, and this risks reducing the value of Wilde’s serious cultural thought. The dust and ashes of the scandal and the comic brilliance have been such a feature of his biographical identity that Wilde’s ideas and his art have been snatched from the body of his work. Wilde’s glorious celebrity at the time of his downfall is obviously emphasised in biographies. Unfortunately such interpretations have also influenced some criticism of his work. Ellmann (1965) implies that Wilde is either the artist-criminal or representing himself in the Christ-like “nobler role of sufferer, of scapegoat rather than scapegrace” (5).