An Experimentation On Aestheticism With Fairy Tale Image

Oscar Wilde, the one of the most representative proponents for the movement of Aestheticism in the end of 19th century, wrote 9 fairy tales in all his life, which have been published as collections including The Happy Prince and Other Tales and A House of Pomegranates. In which, The Fisherman and his Soul has the most outstanding characters of Wilde style and aestheticism style.This essay finds out the mainly sub-texts of The Fisherman and his Soul from the perspective reading, and examines the arcanums in narrator's management of the sub-texts by juxtaposition of the sub-texts. Moreover, the arcanums point to the same thing: the deep-seated narrative structure, which is to some extent reflects the psychological structure of Wilde's. When it came out of the fairy tale, it recurs constantly throughout Wilde's fiction, drama, literary criticism, his life, and the movement of Aestheticism. Draw a conclusion, this fairy tale is the experimentation on aestheticism with the fairy tale language, the fairy tale thinking, and the fairy tale rules. By probing into the realistic meaning of characters, the positive and negative influences on the "aestheticism sprout" by the style of fairy tale, and modification in the process, the subjective intention of Wilde's become clear. Even Wilde has his own intention, he could not change the destiny of his fairy tale, his own life, and the movement of Aestheticism.This essay is divided into three Chapters. In Chapter One, based on juxtaposition of the sub-texts, the arcanums in narrator's management of the sub-texts can be found out, which point to the same thing: the deep-seated narrative structure. Chapter Two probes into the layer of the deep-seated narrative structure. Based on the recurring of the deep-seated narrative structure in The Picture of Dorian Gray and Solome, the deep-seated narrative structure can be found beyond the style of fairy tale. Meanwhile, The Fisherman and his Soul was wrote in the early period and had predicted Wilde's destiny. So it is the experimentation on aestheticism with the fairy tale language, the fairy tale thinking, and the fairy tale rules. Chapter Three examines The Fisherman and his Soul as the experimentation on aestheticism, By probing into the realistic meaning of characters, the positive and negative influences on the "aestheticism sprout" by the style of fairy tale, and modification in the process, the subjective intention of Wilde's become clear. Even Wilde has his own intention, he could not change the destiny of his fairy tale, his own life, and the movement of Aestheticism.