Oscar Wilde beyond the page and stage : objects, craft and the performance of identity
Oscar Wilde’s society comedies are reconsidered through the lens of material culture and theatrical craftsmanship. By treating Wilde not simply as a dramatist but as an artisan who fashioned identities through objects, I argue that props, costumes, and stage conventions in Lady Windermere’s Fan (189...
| Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | article |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repository: | Docta Complutense |
| Language: | English |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/132203 |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132203 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | 811.111 821.111 82.09 Oscar Wilde Material Culture Artisanal Dramaturgy Performativity Identity Theatricality Dramaturgia Artesanal Cultura Material Performatividade Identidade Teatralidade Filología inglesa Literatura 6202 Teoría, Análisis y Crítica Literarias 5701.07 Lengua y Literatura |
| Summary: | Oscar Wilde’s society comedies are reconsidered through the lens of material culture and theatrical craftsmanship. By treating Wilde not simply as a dramatist but as an artisan who fashioned identities through objects, I argue that props, costumes, and stage conventions in Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) function as agents of subversion rather than decorative accessories. Far from being ornamental, objects in Wilde’s theatre become central to the destabilization of gender, morality, and social truth. Wilde’s contemporaries often failed to recognize the radical implications of this dramaturgy, dismissing his epigrams and props as trivial. Yet these very devices anticipate modern theories of performativity and the agency of things. |
|---|