The Modern Art of Influence and the Spectacle of Oscar Wilde

Salamensky investigates Oscar Wilde, his contemporaries, and the public frenzy over his work and life as illustrating the crucial importance of performance in the construction of the 'modern' and our own, postmodern, lives. Oscar Wilde was the wittiest, most famous - and most infamous - writer and figure of his time. His fiction, essays, plays, and sparkling bon motsstill enthrall us, while his obsessive, forbidden love and tragic trials continue to haunt us. The Modern Art of Influence and the Spectacle of Oscar Wildeinvestigates the rich, complex work and tumultuous life of this unique artist and individual, his colorful era, his vibrant milieu of artists, scandalous women and men, Jews, and other "others," the mass frenzy that surrounded him, and the implications of all that is "Wilde" for us today Front Matter....Pages i-vii Foreword: Why Wilde?....Pages 1-3 Wilde Ways....Pages 5-33 Wilde Women....Pages 35-71 Wilde Words....Pages 73-117 Wilde Worlds....Pages 119-154 Afterword: What Do We Want from Wilde?....Pages 155-157 Back Matter....Pages 159-210 "Salamensky investigates Oscar Wilde, his contemporaries, and the public frenzy over his work and life as illustrating the crucial importance of performance in the construction of the "modern" and our own, postmodern, lives"-- Provided by publisher