Oscar Wilde's Escapist Aesthetics And The Taoist Spirit It Reflects

As a famous writer in the late Victorian age, Oscar Wilde is at once theforerunner, initiator, and spokesman of the Art-for-Art's-Sake movement in relationto the history of aesthetics in Britain. He has written many excellent works in hisshort life, including: one novel, four comedies of social manners, one tragedy,several fairy tales, and a number of literary critical essays and poems. The witty,humorous, and significant paradoxes and aphorisms in his social comedies have laida solid foundation for his reputation as the "great master of language", and ThePicture of Dorian Gray, his only novel, is exemplary of British aesthetic literature.However, Wilde's aesthetic doctrine and his works have all along beencontroversial for its uniqueness. Under the banner of "Art for Art's Sake", he pursues"pure beauty" and "formal beauty". He insists that in literary creation art should bedetached from reality;it is nature that imitates art, not art imitates nature;and artshould not be restrained by morality. So, Wilde's aesthetic doctrine violates thecommon mimesis theory that emphasizes nature's decisive influence on art, andincorporates in his aesthetics a brand new theory of mimesis, unconventional andopposite to the common sense. As a result, his only novel, written according to thedoctrine mentioned above, incurs quite a few reproaches. For instance, NewHedonism advocated in the novel and the characters—Dorian Gray and Lord HenryWotton had been the targets of violent criticism from the moralists who stood for thehypocritical morality in the late Victorian society. Even Basil's special feelingstowards Dorian had been considered as the evidence of Wilde's homosexuality andwas presented as proof against him at the court during his trials. Salome is anotherobject being rebuked by the public. The heroine's violent and crazy love offendedagainst the conventional morality and annoyed the government at that time.Consequently, the play was banned by Lord Chamberlain when it was still inrehearsal.Just like his works, Wilde's life is also full of controversy. For "Life for Art'sSake" is his principle for life, he wears eccentric clothes, lives in his "AestheticHome" in Tite Street which is decorated in oriental style. And his homosexual lifewith Alfred Douglas satisfies his sensuous enjoyment but sends him into prison. Allof his behaviors are incompatible with the late Victorian society.Then, how to interpret such controversial texts and life of Wilde's? The presentthesis proposes a new angle. It systematically explicates his theories, works andactivities from the perspective of the Aesthetics of Existence which is different fromprevious researches;in the process, it coins a grand-sounding name—EscapistAesthetics— to describe his aesthetics.Accordingly, Wilde's so-called Escapist Aesthetics is studied from three aspects:first, his literary creation theory of "Art for Art's Sake" and the aestheticmanifestations in his major works;secondly, his outlook on life involving art called"Life for Art's Sake" and its demonstrations in his personal life;and thirdly, thecomplicated background knowledge in the forming of Wilde's aesthetic idea. Wilde'sEscapist Aesthetics is fully revealed through a thorough analysis of his literary workand his personal life as well. At the end, a relatively reasonable definition forEscapist Aesthetics is proposed.The thesis consists of five parts: Introduction, "Art for Art's Sake", Life forArt's Sake, Theoretical Background, and Conclusion.In the Introduction, the author first of all makes a bibliographical review onWilde studies, thereby, the research angle of the thesis is put forward, that is, tounderstand Wilde and his literary achievements from the perspective of the aestheticsof existence. It argues that, just like the Hermit's Philosophy, Wilde's aesthetic ideacontains not only his personal perception of beauty, but also his hope of life andpursuit of beauty and freedom, namely, the "aesthetic redemption" or redeemingman's soul from the sordid reality through art and beauty. This idea reflects aparticular view of life in which art is a way to escape from the real world andmaintain the peace of soul. Thus it echoes the notion of Tao in Taoism whichadvocates preserving the true self and keeping free from the worldly turmoil.Meanwhile, the main content of this thesis is sketched out in this section.The first part of Chapter One is about Wilde's aesthetic idea, interpreting hisaesthetic opinion in art from three aspects: first, the relationship between art andreality;secondly, the relationship between art and morality;and thirdly, art that hasnothing to do with any purpose. The thoughts reflected from the relationshipbetween art and reality, and art and morality just echo the Taoist spirit of conductingattitude—"putting heaven and earth outside yourself, forgetting the ten thousandthings, and never shifting with things", and philosophy of life—"knowing what youcannot do anything about, being content with it as you would with fate, andcontending with society". The second part embodies the aesthetic demonstrations ofWildean principles in his works. Three representative angles are chosen: dandyism,the split personality, and the femme fatale, which are exemplified by Wilde's socialcomedies, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Salome respectively. At the same time,the relative Taoist spirits are discussed, too.Chapter Two focuses on his artistic outlook on life, that of "Life for Art's Sake".The first part demonstrates his eccentric clothing. The second part describes hisliving space which is ornamented in oriental style. And the third part interprets hishomosexual relationship with Alfred Douglas. As one of the important parts of hisEscapist Aesthetics, Wilde's life principle of "Life for Art's Sake" is the extension of"Art for Art's Sake" in his real life.Chapter Three discusses the complicated theoretical background of Wilde'saesthetics. On the whole, the theoretical background is composed of four major parts.The first part introduces the social background—the consumer society of the lateVictorian age and the fin-de-siecle feelings and emotions in the cultural circles. Thesecond part generalizes the theoretical influences exerted on Wilde. One aspect thatcomes from Western countries is mainly the influence of the German classicalaesthetics and its aesthetes. The second one is the native impact from John Ruskinand Walter Pater. The third part analyzes Wilde's special Irish complex as anIrishman and his various activities in defending his own nation from bad reputation.The fourth part probes in the influence exerted by oriental utopian thoughts,including Japanese artistic ideas and Chinese Taoism.In the Conclusion, Wilde's Escapist Aesthetics is summarized as an aestheticswhich emphasizes man's subjective status and the ways of being. His aim is toadvocate a concern of the peace and freedom of soul through pursuing art andescaping from the world.With the foregoing analysis, one important idea must be presented here, that is,Wilde's Escapist Aesthetics is a significant topic worthy of studying. It is not only astudy in British literature;more accurately, it is the communication of Chinese andBritish cultures which takes Wilde as the starting point. Thus, the author of thepresent thesis believes with reasonable confidence that further research into Wilde'sEscapist Aesthetics, especially its relationship with the Taoist spirit, will be of greatvalue.