Liberal Aesthetics in Oscar Wilde's Works

A MUST READ for those who desire to delve into Oscar Wilde! This book boasts an insight into Wilde's literary and sexual stature by explicating his aesthetic notions. Oscar Wilde, a controversial figure in the Victorian period, brought a welter of criticism associated with his literary works and sexual orientation. However, aestheticism, literary criticism, and sexual studies seem to separate Wilde into distinctive entities, in which his hedonism, genius, and sexual deviation are discussed in seeming but incoherent continuum. Through the approach of cultural study, in which both language and meanings are contextualized in the Victorian setting, this thesis re-places Wilde back into his contemporary society and presents his significance as a whole. Queer as it might seem, this thesis reunites Wilde with his literary and bodily representation, and in this scenario, art for art's sake is rendered a social meaning which approximates collateral involvement if not proactive. Liberal and rebellious, Wilde's aesthetics becomes socially implicated, and therefore his being rejected by his contemporaries is further understood nowadays as his challenge for spiritual and corporeal freedom.