Oscar Wilde
Professor Abigail Joseph
Spring 2016
Wednesday 3:30-6:00pm
FRSEM-UA 582
Description
“I was a man who stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of my age,” wrote Oscar
Wilde in 1897, from the prison cell where he was serving a two-year sentence for acts of “gross
indecency” with other men. He was, as he often did, inflating himself, but it was also true. Wilde
had become a late Victorian celebrity for his flamboyant style as well as his works of
controversial fiction, provocative criticism, and sparkling drama. His celebrity was cut short by
his conviction -- which would, in turn, make him into a symbol of both immorality and injustice
and, well into the 20th century, an icon of an emerging gay identity. Today, more than a hundred
years after his death, Wilde continues to amuse, confuse, provoke, challenge, and move us. This
course will examine the scope of Wilde’s art and ideas, as well as the complexity of his cultural
and aesthetic legacies. We will read widely across Wilde’s small but spectacular body of work:
lectures, poetry, essays, fiction, drama, letters. Putting that career into historical and critical
context, we will also look at the work of the 19th century writers and artists who were Wilde’s
influences, adversaries, collaborators, and followers; at excerpts from biographies and criticism
from shortly after Wilde’s death through the present; and at recent film and theatrical adaptations
and revisions of Wilde’s writings and life.
Required Texts
Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde (Vintage)
Moises Kaufman, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Vintage)
H. Montgomery Hyde, The Trials of Oscar Wilde (Dover)
Oscar Wilde, The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (Harper Collins)
Other readings will be posted on NYU Classes.
Policies
Attendance: Your presence is expected and needed in class every week. Please arrive on time. If
you must miss a class or arrive late, let me know in advance. More than three unexcused
absences will affect your grade. There will be at least two film screenings on selected evenings
throughout the semester. You are strongly encouraged to attend; if unable to, you should watch
the film on your own.
Participation: This is a discussion-based seminar, in which we develop knowledge
collaboratively. You should always come to class having completed all of the assigned reading,
ready to think, listen, write, and speak actively.
Writing: All writing assignments are to be turned in on the due date, in class. Writing
assignments must be printed and properly formatted in MLA style, double spaced, 1” margins,
12 pt. font, including a separate Works Cited page. Unless otherwise stated, I do not accept
written assignments by email. If you are unable to complete an assignment on time and require
an extension, please let me know as far in advance as possible.. Otherwise, the grade for any
assignment turned in late will be lowered by one step (B+ to B, etc.) per day.
Presentations: Each student will be required to give a 10-minute presentation in class
introducing the reading for the week and a topic for class discussion. A sign-up schedule will be
distributed during our first meeting. These presentations will figure into your participation grade.
Reading: This course is reading-intensive. Weekly assignments will vary, but you can expect
them to average 80 to 150 pages per week. Be sure that you allow sufficient time to complete the
reading.
Final Paper/Project: The final for this course may take the form of an academic essay or a
creative project. A creative project might be, for example, a film or video, a staged performance,
or a portfolio of visual work. If you choose this option you will be required to produce a script,
report, or written reflection on your work of equivalent length to the final essay (8-10 pp.). All
final papers and projects will include a 10-15 minute oral presentation.
Technology: Unless stated otherwise for a particular session, no laptops, phones, or tablets will
used in the classroom. You should put all devices away before class begins; you will only need
your texts, a notebook, and a pen.
Academic Integrity: This university is “a community of scholars who value free and open
inquiry” (CAS Academic Integrity). In this class, we work with ideas and language, and it is
deeply important to keep track of, and acknowledge, where your ideas and language come from.
Plagiarism is the passing off of another’s words or ideas as your own; it is an extremely serious
academic offense with serious consequences, including failure of the essay, failure in the course,
a hearing with the Dean, and/or expulsion from the university.
To quote, again, the CAS statement on Academic Integrity: “Academic honesty means
that the work you submit—in whatever form—is original.” This means that you may not submit
work written (even in part) by someone else as though it was written by you; and it also means
that you may not submit work written for this course in another course (unless you receive
permission from both that professor and from me) to do so.
Grading
Short Paper #1 (3-5p.)
20%
Short Paper #2 (5p.)
Final Presentation
Final Paper or Project (10p.) 35%
Participation
25%
10%
10%
Schedule
Please note that this schedule is subject to change. Check your email and NYU Classes for
updates.
Week 1: January 27
Introduction
• “A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated”
• “Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young”
Week 2: February 3
Wilde’s Poetry and Its Contexts
•Wilde: “Charmides” (CW 753-770), “To Milton” (CW 713), “The Grave of Keats” (CW
776), “La Bella Donna della mia Mente” (CW 751), “Helas!” (CW 709), “Wasted Days”
(CW 732), “Madonna Mia” (CW 732), “The Harlot’s House” (CW 789)
•John Keats, “Ode to a Grecian Urn”
•Algernon Swinburne, “Anactoria”
•Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “The Blessed Damozel”
Film Screening:
Wilde (dir. Brian Gilbert, 1997)
Week 3: February 10
Wilde and America
•Lectures: “House Decoration,” “The English Renaissance in Art,” “Impressions of
America,” “Art and the Handicraftsman” (Online)
• “The Canterville Ghost” (CW 193-215)
•W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Patience
•Excerpts from biographies by Frank Harris, Robert Sherrard, Rupert Croft-Cooke,
Andre Gide, and Richard Ellmann
Week 4: February 17
Fairy Tales and Short Fiction
•A House of Pomegranates: “The Young King” (CW 224-234), “The Birthday of the
Infanta” (CW 234-248), “The Fisherman and His Soul” (CW 248-273)
•The Happy Prince: “The Happy Prince” (CW 285-292), “The Nightingale and the Rose”
(CW 292-297), “The Devoted Friend” (CW 301-310), “The Remarkable Rocket” (CW 310-321)
• “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime” (CW 168-193)
Short Paper Due (3-5 pages)
Week 5: February 24
Wilde’s Shakespeare
•”The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” (CW 1150-1203)
• “The Truth of Masks” (CW 1060-1079)
• Shakespeare, Sonnets (selections)
Week 6: March 2
Aesthetic Theory
•Intentions: “The Decay of Lying” “Pen, Pencil, and Poison,” and “The Critic as
Artist” (CW 970-1060)
•“The Soul of Man Under Socialism” (CW 1079-1105)
• Walter Pater, “Preface” and “Conclusion” to The Renaissance
• Charles Darwin, The Origins of Species (excerpts)
Week 7: March 9
Dorian Gray
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (CW 17-168)
• J.K. Huysmans, A Rebours (excerpts)
• Selected Reviews and Criticism
Week 8: March 23
Decadence
•”The Sphinx” (CW 833-842)
•Salomé (CW 552-576)
•Works by Aubrey Beardsley, Alfred Douglas, Ernest Dawson, and others
•Excerpts from selected biographies
Short Paper Due (5 pages)
Week 9: March 30
Comedies (I)
•A Woman of No Importance (CW 431-482)
•Lady Windemere’s Fan (CW 385-431)
Week 10: April 6
Comedies (II)
•An Ideal Husband (CW 482-552)
•The Importance of Being Earnest (CW 321-385)
Film Screening:
The Importance of Being Earnest (dir. Oliver Parker, 2002)
Week 11: April 13
Wilde’s Trials
•H. Montgomery Hyde, The Trials of Oscar Wilde (Selections)
•Moises Kaufman, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
Week 12: April 20
Wilde in Prison
•De Profundis (CW 873-958)
•Excerpts from selected biographies
Week 13: April 27
After Reading Gaol
•“The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (CW 843-860)
•“Two Letters to the Daily Chronicle” (CW 958-970)
•Letters (1897-1900)
•Excerpts from selected biographies
Week 14: May 4
Presentations
Final Paper or Project Due (10 pages)