Oscar Wilde and the Cultures of Childhood (Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture)

This Is The First Collection Of Critical Essays That Explores Oscar Wilde's Interest In Children's Culture, Whether In Relation To His Famous Fairy Stories, His Life As A Caring Father To Two Small Boys, His Place As A Defender Of Children's Rights Within The Prison System, His Fascination With Youthful Beauty, And His Theological Contemplation Of What It Means To Be A Child In The Eyes Of God. The Collection Also Examines The Ways In Which Wilde's Works-not Just His Fairy Stories-have Been Adapted For Young Audiences--back Cover. Joseph Bristow, Editor. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 221-234) And Index. Front Matter ....Pages i-xviii Introduction: Oscar Wilde and the Cultures of Childhood (Joseph Bristow)....Pages 1-39 “Play[ing] Narcissus to a Photograph”: Oscar Wilde and the Image of the Child (Lindsay Smith)....Pages 41-67 The Good Aesthetic Child and Deferred Aesthetic Education (Diana Maltz)....Pages 69-88 Wilde’s Legacy: Fairy Tales, Laurence Housman, and the Expression of “Beautiful Untrue Things” (Lorraine Janzen Kooistra)....Pages 89-118 Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Sharp, and the Politics of Dress and Decoration in the Fin-de-Siècle Fairy Tale (Amanda Hollander)....Pages 119-143 The Aesthetics of Altruism in Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales (Maria Tatar)....Pages 145-157 Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales and the Evolution of Lying (Jessica Straley)....Pages 159-180 The Young Know Everything: Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales as Children’s Literature (Perry Nodelman)....Pages 181-201 Greater Than the Mystery of Death: Rewriting Oscar Wilde for Young Audiences (Margaret D. Stetz)....Pages 203-220 Back Matter ....Pages 221-245