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The Masks of Oscar Wilde

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The Masks of Oscar Wilde BRUNA CARDOSO GRAVEM A GAME OF APPEARANCES: THE MASKS OF OSCAR WILDE PORTO ALEGRE 2013 UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL PROGRAMA E PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM LETRAS ÁREA: ESTUDOS DE LITERATURA ESPECIALIDADE: LITERATURAS ESTRANGEIRAS MODERNAS LINHA DE PESQUISA: LITERATURA, IMAGINÁRIO E HISTÓRIA A GAME OF APPEARANCES: THE MASKS OF OSCAR WILDE AUTORA: BRUNA CARDOSO GRAVEM ORIENTADORA: SANDRA MAGGIO Dissertação de Mestrado da especialidade Literaturas Estrangeiras Modernas, submetida ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul como requisito parcial para a obtenção do título de Mestre. PORTO ALEGRE 2013 2 FICHA CATALOGRÁFICA GRAVEM, Bruna Cardoso A Game of Appearances: The Masks of Oscar Wilde Bruna Cardoso Gravem Porto Alegre: UFRGS, Instituto de Letras, 2013. 123 p. Dissertação (Mestrado - Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras) Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. 1. Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. 2. Oscar Wilde. 3. Máscara. 4. Crítica Literária. 3 Essa dissertação é dedicada à minha irmã, Lilis, pelo seu amor incondicional, por sempre estar ao meu lado, por acreditar em mim e nunca me deixar desistir. 4 AGRADECIMENTOS À Sandra, uma pessoa e professora incrível, por ser a melhor orientadora que um dia eu poderia sonhar. Obrigada pelo apoio, pela paciência, pelo encorajamento e por não desistir de mim. À minha mãe, Tanizia, por me ouvir falar sobre Oscar Wilde por horas sem fim, inclusive quando eu já estava me repetindo. Ao Flávio Zanettini pelo apoio e ajuda durante esse trabalho. Aos membros da banca, por aceitarem ler essa dissertação e por ajudarem a torná-la melhor. Ao Claudio Zanini, por me apresentar oficialmente ao Oscar Wilde durante uma de nossas aulas de Literatura Inglesa. Ao Programa de Pós-Graduação de Letras e às professoras Rita Schmidt, Rosalía Garcia e Kathrin Rosenfield. À Patrícia Sulzbach, uma psicóloga incrível, por suas conversas sobre Jung. À Mirian Zalamena e Renata Correa, minhas adoradas chefes, por me deixarem escrever durante o horário de trabalho. À Di e Dani, por sempre estarem ao meu lado. 5 "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." Albert Einstein, The Saturday Evening Post 6 RESUMO Esta dissertação examina as formas como três instâncias se embaraçam na arte de Oscar Wilde: a pessoa, o autor e a obra. O objetivo da pesquisa é compreender como se dá o processo criativo desse escritor, cujas peças levitam entre o irreverente e o polêmico. O humor refinado e a sagacidade na análise do trato social, traços marcantes no estilo de Wilde, são aqui aproximados à habilidade demonstrada tanto pelo autor quanto por seus personagens de se adaptarem a diferentes circunstâncias através do uso de máscaras, ou personas, que lhes possibilitam contornar situações intrincadas. Apoio-me no pensamento de Carl Gustav Jung para as teorizações sobre o conceito de máscara. O trabalho se constrói em três capítulos, nos quais são analisados aspectos e circunstâncias da vida do autor que contribuem para forjar seu estilo único, e que se refletem nas obras por ele criadas. O primeiro capítulo trata sobre a pessoa de Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, e os movimentos que empreendeu para que sua personalidade forte e o rígido ambiente vitoriano em que vivia pudessem aos poucos se harmonizar. Abordo as formas como a sociedade em que cresceu o afetou, apontando aspectos em que ele também a influenciou em retrospecto. Ao longo desse processo, Wilde criou as máscaras que utilizaria, durante a vida, para transitar da maneira desejada entre os diversos grupos com que se relacionou. O segundo e o terceiro capítulos apresentam o autor Oscar Wilde e a sequência de diferentes tipos de obras por ele criadas, avaliando de que formas as circunstâncias da vida da pessoa se consolidaram formando o estilo do autor. Além da estética de Wilde, também é considerada a recepção de sua obra pelo público contemporâneo a ele. No segundo capítulo apresento os conceitos de máscara e de sombra, e como se refletem em sua obra e em sua vida pessoal. Ali são examinadas as primeiras tragédias e, a seguir, as obras que o tornaram um autor polêmico na Inglaterra Vitoriana: “The Portrait of Mr. W. H” e The Picture of Dorian Gray. No terceiro capítulo comento seu momento mais prestigiado, o da produção das comédias sociais, bem como o momento mais sombrio, o das obras escritas durante os anos de prisão, nos últimos anos de sua vida. Ainda discuto, no terceiro capítulo, o legado deixado por Wilde, comentando como as mudanças sociais levaram a uma nova recepção de suas obras, e como essas obras continuam relevantes tendo-se passado um século de sua criação. Nas considerações finais, reitero o propósito da pesquisa, que é contribuir com uma leitura sobre o estilo do grande escritor, com base na análise das relações que se deram entre esse irlandês excêntrico e a inclemente sociedade Vitoriana em que viveu. Palavras-chave: 1 Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. 2 Oscar Wilde. 3 Máscara Social. 4 Crítica literária. 7 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines how three strings tangle together in Oscar Wilde’s art: the person, the author and his literary works. The goal of this research is to understand the creative process of this author, whose plays go from irreverent to polemic. The polished humor and wit applied in his analysis of social behavior, trademarks in Wilde’s writing style, approximate the ability shown by the author, as well as by his characters, to adapt to different circumstances through the use of masks, or personas, that enable them to escape intricate situations. The concept of mask is supported on Carl Gustav Jung’s theory. This paper is constructed in three chapters, in which it is analyzed aspects and circumstances of the author’s life that contributed to his unique writing style and is reflected on his literary works. The first chapter deals with the person Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, and the movements that he partook in so that his strong personality and the strict Victorian environment could harmonize themselves in his life. This paper approaches the ways the society he was brought up into affected him, pointing out aspects in which he affected this society in return. Throughout this process Wilde created many masks that he would use his whole life to be able to navigate through different groups he was related to however he wished. The second and third chapters present the author Oscar Wilde and the sequence of different literary works written by him, evaluating how the circumstances in his personal life shaped him, creating the author’s writing style. Not only this paper considers the Aesthete in Wilde, but also the reception of his works by the public that was contemporary to him. In the second chapter it is presented the concepts of mask and shadow, and how they reflect on Wilde’s work and personal life. It is also examined his first tragedies and the literary works that made him become a polemic author in Victorian England: “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In the third chapter it is mentioned the brightest moments in his career, his comedies of society, as well as his soberest, with the work he wrote in prison and in the last few years of his life. Still in the third chapter, it is discussed the legacy left by Wilde, commenting on the social changes that led to a new reception of his works, as they continue to be relevant even a century after their creation. On my final considerations, I reiterate the goal of this research, which is to contribute with a reading on the style of this great writer, based on the analysis of the relation between this eccentric Irish man and the unmerciful Victorian society that he lived in. Keywords: 1 Anglo-Irish Literature. 2 Oscar Wilde. 3 Mask. 4 Literary Criticism. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….. 10 1 PERSON: “Be yourself, everyone else is taken”……………………………………………………………... 16 1.1 IRELAND AND OXFORD: “Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future”……………………………………............... 16 1.2 AESTHETES, USA, FAMILY: “I have the simplest tastes. I’m always satisfied with the best”………………………………… 25 1.3 TRIAL & EXILE: “No man is rich enough to buy back his past”……………………………………………………………….. 32 2 AUTHOR: “A mask tells us more than a face”…….. 42 2.1 JUNG & OSCAR: “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. They are either charming or tedious”……………… 42 2.2 THE CLIMBING YEARS: “Experience, the name people give to their mistakes” …...................................................................... 47 2.3 TURNING POINT: “I can resist everything, except temptation”………………………………………………………. 54 RISE AND FALL: “Life is a stage but the play is 3 badly cast”……………………………………………………… 63 3.1 THE GOLDEN YEARS: “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they will kill you”…………….. 63 3.2 THE FALL: “The heart was made to be broken” ………......... 71 3.3 THE LEGACY: “More than half of modern culture depends 76 on what one shouldn't read” CONCLUSION………………………………………………… 81 REFERENCES…………………………………………………. 86 APPENDIX……………………………………………………….. 91 ANNEXES……………………………………………………….. 103 9 INTRODUCTION The necessity to adapt to constant change has always been part of human nature. Through time, the human species has slowly learned to live in organized societies. As living organisms, we have to evolve to survive; nonetheless, as parts of a group, we have to adapt, to be equal, to be the same, so as to be accepted. Things have always been like that, in a complex play that involves changing and remaining the same.
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