U.51: Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw

1. INTRODUCTION (Shaw and Wilde)

• 20th-19th century masters

• O.Wilde → flamboyant, satirical, witty

• G.B. Shaw → penetrating social commentary, reformist views

• Life imitates art far more than art imitates life

1. INTRODUCTION (LOMLOE)

• Linguistic and plurilingual competencies → complex structures, sharp dialogue, irony, wit…how ENG operates in different contexts.

• Civic and learning to learn → challenged social norms, critical thinking skills, political and social issues.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

(1890s)

• Period of transformation, not Victorian but not entirely Modern

• Writers → Late Victorians or The First of the Moderns.

• Docere → delectare (Aestheticism, bohemianism)

  • Baudelaire, Gautier… “Art for Art’s Sake”

• Increase in literacy → new journalistic styles (less sophisticated audience)

• Pessimism and stoicism in contrast to Victorian optimism

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.1. Drama. (Oscar Wilde)

• Melodrama and popular spectacles, devoid of high-quality drama (Wordsworth, Coleridge), however:

• O. Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.

  • Pioneered: satirical, humorous, drawing-room comedies.

  • Filled with paradoxes that mirrored a broader societal attitude towards gender/social conventions.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.1. Drama. (GBShaw)

• Wit different than Wilde: paradoxes, provocations, the audience questioned its own complacency.

• Henrik Ibsen = Shaw’s plays steered serious drama (social, domestic, personal issues).

• Discussion plays, anti-Victorian sentiment.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.1. Drama. (Ireland and T.S. Eliot)

• Ireland’s contribution → Foundation of the Irish Literary Theatre, 1889. Fosters Irish literary renaissance.

• T.S. Eliot → attempted to revive poetic drama, succeeded, introduced ritualistic elements.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.2. Poetry.

• Pre-Raphaelites helped lay groundwork on Decadent movement influenced by Walter Pater: art for art’s sake (decay, morbid beauty, artificiality). Strong influence while movement declined in the early 20th C.

• The Georgian poets →

  • Rupert Brooke (main figure)

  • Introduced clarity, simplicity, renewed focus on nature and traditional poetic forms.

  • Work often criticised by being nostalgic, out of sync with rapidly industrialising world.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.2. Poetry. T.E. Hulme and Imagism

• T. E. Hulme → reaction to Georgians, poetry grounded in sensory experience, expressed through clear imagery

  • Influenced H.D. and Ezra Pound’s IMAGISM.

• Imagism = linguistic economy and clarity. Heavily influential in the Modernist period.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.2. Poetry. WWI.

• Strong impact

• Wilfred Owen → wrote about the war in realistic, shocking way, challenged heroic ideas of conflict. DULCE ET DECORUM EST.

• WB Yeats and more → after-war poetry, find new ways of writing for a society that had been deeply touched by war.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.3. The novel.

• Remained dominant literary form of the 19th C./early 20th C.

• Move from straightforward, external narration → more complex, carefully structured works.

• Emphasis on: PATTERN, COMPOSITION, INNER CONSCIOUSNESS (PCIC)

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.3. The novel. Thomas Hardy vs Joseph Conrad / H.G. Wells and more.

• Thomas Hardy → the novel as a tool for interpreting life and expressing philosophical ideas (high emphasis on fate and social constraints).

• J. Conrad → combined artistic innovation and a deep exploration of moral/psychological experiences.

• H.G. Wells and CO→ the novel as a vehicle for social criticism

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.3. The novel. Main three influences of this period:

• Erosion of shared beliefs → post-Victorian, fiction moved away from plots driven mainly from social conventions like marriage to more individual, subjective interpretations of life.

• Changing perception of time → from being as a simple chronological sequence to fluid, subjective experience in the mind (Woolf or Joyce)

• New understanding of consciousness → Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, psychoanalysis.

2. WILDE AND SHAW: LITERARY BACKGROUND

2.3. The novel. Other changes.

• Influence from French and Russian styles

• The short story became more popular (realism but romance kept appearing)

• Regional fiction inspired by Hardy’s depiction of Wessex encouraged writers to set their works in defined geographical settings.

3. OSCAR WILDE

A brief description of him.

• Anglo-Irish author, one of the most celebrated figures of the late Victorian period.

• Born in Dublin, British Ireland, to an accommodated family

• Known for his sharp wit and flamboyant personality

• Successful life and after, fall from grace after being convicted for gross indecency.

3. OSCAR WILDE

His family

• Born in a family with strong literary and intelectual backgrounds:

  • Father: renowned eye surgeon who also wrote books on Jonathan Swift (the satirist), archaeology and folklore

  • Mother: important figure in Irish literature/nationalist circles. Wrote poetry inspired by Celtic mythology.

3. OSCAR WILDE

His studies

• Studied at Trinity College and Magdalen College of Oxford. Graduated with honors.

• Won Newdigate Prize for poem Ravenna.

• This period heavily influenced his aesthetic ideals and public persona. (Aestheticism)

3. OSCAR WILDE

Aestheticism

• Early 1880s → Aestheticism flourished in London.

• Wilde established himself within social and artistic circles (attracted attention with his wit and extravagance)

• Fame increased further in 1882, lecture tour in US and Canada: delivered talks on beauty and art while dressed in his characteristic attire.

3. OSCAR WILDE

Marriage and work.

• Married in 1884 to Constance Lloyd (daughter of prominent English barrister) and had two sons.

• Worked for: Pall Mall Gazette, and as editor of Woman’s World.

• Wrote, during this period, The Happy Prince and Other Tales (fairy tales that combined imaginative storytelling and moral insight).

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.1. Works

Important before beginning?

His most important works were produced in the later years of his career.

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.1.1. The novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Written in 1891.

• Provocative exploration of morality and aestheticism

• Tell the story of Dorian Gray and say this quote: If it were I who was to be always young and the portrait that was to grow old, I would give my soul to that”, which echoes FAUSTIAN theme in more modern, decadent twist

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.1.1. The novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray

• Novels portrayal of hedonism =Victorian critics marred TPDG with criticism (morally conservative English press)

  • Addressed it after and beforehand: The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.

  • Dorian’s moral decay was key to the plot.

• Published notable works in 1891 as well: Intentions (collection of essays on aesthetic philosophy), two short stories: Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories; A House of Pomegranates.

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.1.2. Plays

• Wilde’s greater success (especially his social comedies)

  • First major success: Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), later followed by Salomé (criticised for overt s3xual themes and biblical references). Banned.

  • A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) (that heavily criticised Victorian society and their concept of earnestness)

  • Some works like the latter still performed in British theatres and around the world.

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.2. Legal troubles and downfall

• The Importance of Being Earnest was overshadowed by scandal.

• In 1891 started a relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas.

• L.A.D.’s father, the Marquess of Queensberry accused him of homosexual conduct. Wilde’s suing of the Marquess of libel failed terribly.

• Sentenced to two years of hard labour at Reading Jail.

• Wrote De Profundis while in jail (betrayal, reflection on his suffering)

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.2. Legal troubles and downfall

• Fled to France in a self-imposed exile. Last work The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) that showed brutal realities of prison life.

• Passed away in 1900 in a Parisian hostel, from meningitis caused by an ear infection. Alone, almost-homeless and forgotten by society.

3. OSCAR WILDE

3.3. Legacy.

• Complex legacy, challenged social norms and lived an extravagant life, away from the conventions of his time.

• Significant contributions to literature, from his fairy tales to social comedies.

• Famed for his wit: I have nothing to declare but my except genious (customs officer). His humour helped him secure a place in the hearts of hundreds of people.

• The Decay of Lying: Life imitates art far more than art imitates life. (London Fog)

• GB Shaw and many other authors recognised his brilliance, ensuring his legacy.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

(Early life)

• Born 1856 in Dublin. Protestant family of English descent.

• Moved to London with his mother in 1876. Early adult life marked by poverty.

• 1884 → interested in social reform and founded the Fabian Society. (never fully aligned with orthodox social ideology)

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Early work, socialism and Henrik Ibsen

• Sociopolitical outlook was influenced by his admiration for vitality, intelligence, and individual strength.

• 1885-1908 gained recognition as a journalist and critic of art, music, drama.

• 1891 published The Quintessence of Ibsemism

  • used to address the moral and social problems of modern life.

  • Shaped Shaw as a playwright who:

    • On the one hand →, understood conventional theatre techniques

    • On the other hand, → deliberately used drama as a vehicle for ideas, following Ibsen.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

(Early life)

• Work gave him expert knowledge of dramatic structure, which he later used and adapted in his own plays.

• Intend: to shock audiences into re-examining their assumptions about society and moral issues.

• Unsuccessful attempt to become a novelist. Began his career as playwright with Widowers’ House.

• 1904-6 Court Theatre presented his plays giving him reputation.

• End of WWI Shaw had become a cult, 1925 won Nobel Prize.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Life and works.

• He examined human beings, social institutions, social problems from his earliest plays

• Shaw’s technique of reversal and irony: is the culprit in the landlord or in the wider soioeconomic condition?

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Life and works. 1st period (beginings)

• Widowers’ House (1892)

• Mrs. Warren’s Profession (1893)

Key: controversial initiation to drama, on society and money.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Life and works. 2nd period (jump to 1900, key works)

• Men and Superman (1904) → “creative evolution”, s3xual selection, relationship between men and women

• John Bull’s Other Island (1904) → Ireland, Britain, national stereotypes

• Major Barbara (1907) → religion and social problems. Salvation Army.

• The Doctor’s Dilemma (1909) → on judgement and moral of medical profession. heavily satirised.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Life and works. Intermediate, experimentation works

• The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet (1911) → Horse theft,

• Fanny’s First Play (1911); Androcles and the Lion (1913) → religious themes, former: combines religious satire and criticism of theatre audience, latter on early Christian experience, humour.

• The Philanderer (1912) → on social conventions and human weaknesses, satire on pseudo-Ibsenites, Pygmalion → My Fair Lady.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Life and works. More philosophical. Much more political

• Heartbreak House (1919) → A Fantasia in the Russian Manner of English Themes, Anton Chekhov, civilisation on the brink of collapse

• Back to Methuselah (1921) → religion, cycle of 5 plays, evolutionary ideas, potential of human development

• Saint Joan (1923) → religion, Joan of Arc interpreted as an independent, visionary figure in conflict with institutional authority, his greatest play

• The Apple Cart (1929) → paradoxical treatment of monarchy and democracy, conservative and progressive ideas are challenged

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Shaw’s aim with his plays.

• To challenge conventional views of society, often reversing accepted assumptions to provoke thought.

• In his prefaces, we can find his ideas in a direct, argumentative style.

4. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

4.1. Life

Characters.

• Shaped by social forces or represent particular ideas

• Function as mouthpieces for his arguments, some charicaturised from their most prominent feature.

• Especially successful in creating complex female characters, notable for lack of traditional heroes and villians.

• His women: challenge Victorian conventions and men’s authority, are intelligent, argumentative, socially aware. Useful to our students.