English 177-2 - Winter, 2015

Study of an Individual Author

Topic: Wilde for Wilde's Sake: Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism

Class Information

Instructor: Page, Ryan
CRN: 94009
Time: MWF 2:10-3:00
Location: 261 Olson

Description

A comprehensive reading of Oscar Wildeâ€™s work is essential for any student interested in the emergence of literary modernism at the end of the nineteenth century. This course will cover the entire range of Wilde's work, focusing on four interrelated topics: firstly, his critical contribution to the Aesthetic movement in English literature; secondly, his innovative style as the first (along with Bernard Shaw) major modern dramatist in English; thirdly, his self-fashioning as an Irish expatriate writer in Britain; and finally, as a social critic of this normative British society in which he both lived and was ultimately exiled from. This course should appeal to anyone who has enjoyed Wilde's writing and wants to learn more about the man and his ideas, as well as students specifically interested in the evolution of British Modernism in Fin de siï¿½cle Britain.

Grading

2 Course Papers (50%)
Weekly Journal Entries, Attendance, and Participation (20%)
1 Class Presentation (15%)
Final (15%)

Texts

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Penguin), Oscar Wilde
The Soul of Man Under Socialism & Selected Criticism (Penguin), Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays (Oxford), Oscar Wilde
The Complete Fairy Tales (Penguin), Oscar Wilde