Modernist Aesthetics and Consumer Culture in the Writings of Oscar Wilde

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Poetry History & Criticism, British
Cover of the book Modernist Aesthetics and Consumer Culture in the Writings of Oscar Wilde by Paul Fortunato, Taylor and Francis
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Author: Paul Fortunato ISBN: 9781135860943
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: September 13, 2013
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Paul Fortunato
ISBN: 9781135860943
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: September 13, 2013
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

Oscar Wilde was a consumer modernist. His modernist aesthetics drove him into the heart of the mass culture industries of 1890s London, particularly the journalism and popular theatre industries.

Wilde was extremely active in these industries: as a journalist at the Pall Mall Gazette; as magazine editor of the Women’s World; as commentator on dress and design through both of these; and finally as a fabulously popular playwright.

Because of his desire to impact a mass audience, the primary elements of Wilde’s consumer aesthetic were superficial ornament and ephemeral public image – both of which he linked to the theatrical. This concern with the surface and with the ephemeral was, ironically, a foundational element of what became twentieth-century modernism – thus we can call Wilde’s aesthetic a consumer modernism, a root and branch of modernism that was largely erased.

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Oscar Wilde was a consumer modernist. His modernist aesthetics drove him into the heart of the mass culture industries of 1890s London, particularly the journalism and popular theatre industries.

Wilde was extremely active in these industries: as a journalist at the Pall Mall Gazette; as magazine editor of the Women’s World; as commentator on dress and design through both of these; and finally as a fabulously popular playwright.

Because of his desire to impact a mass audience, the primary elements of Wilde’s consumer aesthetic were superficial ornament and ephemeral public image – both of which he linked to the theatrical. This concern with the surface and with the ephemeral was, ironically, a foundational element of what became twentieth-century modernism – thus we can call Wilde’s aesthetic a consumer modernism, a root and branch of modernism that was largely erased.

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