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How Did Oscar Wilde Influence Sexuality

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How Did Oscar Wilde Influence Sexuality
The Influence of Oscar Wilde 's Sexuality | English Literature
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was a writer whose homoerotic texts pushed the social boundaries of the Victorian era. Born to a family of unabashed Irish agnostics, the self-proclaimed "dandy" valued art, fashion, and all things physically beautiful. After receiving a comprehensive education from Oxford, Wilde made a name for himself in London first as a novelist, penning the now famous The Picture of Dorian Gray.
A string of successful plays followed, among them "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "An Ideal Husband". Wilde also published a variety of short stories and essays, but is acclaimed by historians for his pioneering influence over the aesthetic movement, aprogression that opposed the accepted Victorian take on art in everyway, shape, and form. Wilde postulated that art existed solely foritself, only for the sake of being art. His play "The Decay of Lying"exemplified this tenet best, personifying his distaste for society 's proclivities through a conversation between two people in a park.Though he fathered two …show more content…
Oscar Wilde. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1977.
Gardiner, Juliet. Oscar Wilde: A Life in Letters, Writings, and Wit. Collins & Brown, Ltd., 1995.
Gaunt, William. The Aesthetic Adventure. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1945.
Hoare, Philip. Oscar Wilde 's Last Stand: Decadence, Conspiracy, and theMost Outrageous Trial of the Century. New York, Arcade Publishing,Inc., 1997.
Wilde, Oscar. "An Ideal Husband." Champaign: Project Gutenberg Press,2004. Wilde, Oscar. "De Profundis." Champaign: Project Gutenberg Press,2003.
Wilde, Oscar. "The Decay of Lying." [online] Available at:www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E800003-009/text002.html Cork: Corpus ofElectronic Texts, 1997.
Wilde, Oscar. "The Importance of Being Earnest." Champaign: Project Gutenberg Press, 2005.

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