STUDY GUIDE 4
Oscar Wilde - aestheticism, “art for art's sake”.
Aestheticism was an English artistic movement, which appeared in the 19th century, descending from the Pre - Raphaelites. It considered beauty as the greatest value. It stated that art should be created for its own sake - “art for art's sake”( l'art pour l'art) . Art is a self-sufficient entity concerned only with beauty and not with any moral or social purpose. Previously, it was thought that art should serve some political, didactic purposes. One of the major artists connected with this movement was Walter Pater - a writer and an Oxford professor. Oscar Wilde presented the ideas of aestheticism in the preface to “ The Picture of Dorian Grey”. It consists of a collection of statements about the role of the artist, art itself, and the value of beauty, and serves as an indicator of the way in which Wilde intends the novel to be read.
Dandy and the ideology of dandyism
Dandyism is a term popularised by Charles Baudelaire in his “ The Dandy” written in 1863.
Dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self. Baudelaire defines a dandy as a “wealthy man who has no occupation in life but to chase along the highway of happiness (…), who has no profession other than elegance.” A dandy cultivates the idea of his own beauty, satisfies his own passions of feeling and thinking. Dandy doesn't even care much for love. You may assume that he especially cares for money, which enable him to achieve this material elegance. However all these things are only an expression of the aristocratic superiority of his mind. Perfection is a feature of a proper dandy. Dandies often provided scandal and gossip for the society like Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron.
Yellow Book (the real life magazine and the fictitious book in the novel).
The Yellow Book - a title of an influential periodical devoted to aesthetics Wilde cooperated with. It was published in London from1894 - 1897.
the fictitious novel - a French book “A' rebours” by Joris - Karl Huysman reffered to in TPODG as ` poisonous French novel'. Lord Henry gives Dorian a copy of the yellow book as a gift. The book becomes like holy scripture to Dorian, who buys nearly a dozen copies and bases his life and actions on it. The book represents the profound and damaging influence that art can have over an individual and serves as a warning to those who would surrender themselves so completely to such an influence.
The purpose of art
A formerly mentioned preface serves as a useful explanation of Wilde's philosophy of art. The purpose of art, according him, is to have no purpose. In order to understand this claim fully, one needs to consider the moral climate of Wilde's time and the Victorian sensibility regarding art and morality. The Victorians believed that art could be used as a tool for social education and moral enlightenment, as illustrated in works by writers such as Charles Dickens. The aestheticism movement, sought to free art from this responsibility. The aestheticists were motivated as much by a contempt for bourgeois morality—a sensibility embodied in Dorian Gray by Lord Henry, whose every word seems designed to shock the ethical certainties of the burgeoning middle class—as they were by the belief that art need not possess any other purpose than being beautiful. The two works of art that dominate the novel—Basil's painting and the mysterious yellow book that Lord Henry gives Dorian—are presented in the vein more of Victorian sensibilities than of aesthetic ones. That is, both the portrait and the French novel serve a purpose: the first acts as a type of mysterious mirror that shows Dorian the physical dissipation his own body has been spared, while the second acts as something of a road map, leading the young man farther along the path toward infamy.
The heritage of the Gothic novel.
Dorian as a criminal and an aesthete in one novel - two parts of his personality -a theme perhaps linked to Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which Wilde admired - reoccurring in many gothic novels
Faustian theme - Dorian is tempted with potential eternal beauty. In order to pursue it he somehow sells his soul, indulges in this temptation, loses morality
madness, decay of the soul
horrifying picture kept hidden in secret
supernatural phenomenon of the painting reflecting the decay of the soul
Sybil's suicide
gloomy atmosphere