Oscar Wilde

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

In this class, we will read Wilde’s work in several genres--poetry, narrative, non-fiction prose, drama, essays, and letters--analyzing his notions of gender, sexuality, nation, religion, and literary style. We will consider how the texts construct a literary persona and how that persona interacts with and challenges Wilde’s contemporary culture as well as our own. How does Wilde produce--and undermine--our notion of “Wilde”? In addition to reading Wilde’s own literature, the class will also read extensive contextual works, including other nineteenth-century literary texts, the transcripts of the trials, as well as recent critical, theoretical, and literary accounts of Wilde’s work and life. There will be both formal papers and in-class writing assignments in the course of the semester.