Oscar Wilde: from the classics to criticism as art

This article examines the notebooks that Oscar Wilde kept for his Literae Humaniores studies at the University of Oxford and connects them to his maturity works to explain some of the aspects of the influence of Ancient Greek Literature on his modern conception of art criticism. Specifically, this a...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Waki, Fábio
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2023
Country:Brasil
Institution:Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)
Repository:Ilha do Desterro
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:periodicos.ufsc.br:article/96423
Online Access:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/desterro/article/view/96423
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Oscar Wilde
British Aestheticism
Classical Reception
Critical Theory
Art Criticism
Esteticismo Britânico
Recepção Clássica
Teoria Crítica
Crítica de Arte
Description
Summary:This article examines the notebooks that Oscar Wilde kept for his Literae Humaniores studies at the University of Oxford and connects them to his maturity works to explain some of the aspects of the influence of Ancient Greek Literature on his modern conception of art criticism. Specifically, this article explains how he exploited certain ideas proposed by his precursors—such as Matthew Arnold’s idea of criticism, Walter Pater’s idea of impressionistic criticism, and John Addington Symonds’ idea of the regency of a canonical art—to substantiate a rather bold proposal to Victorian intelligentsia and cultural circles: namely, that, in Victorian Modernity, the critic should be raised to the condition of artist and her criticism to the condition of an art in itself.