FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W340580016> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W340580016 startingPage "103" @default.
• W340580016 abstract "The sincerity of Wilde's De Profundis, put into doubt by trains of thought in the letter that are uncharacteristic of Wilde's earlier writing, is challenged further by contemporary literary theory in its rejection of the autobiographical subject as coherent entity. One can assess the sincerity of De Profundis by locating what we can know of its subject in a dialogue between the identity Wilde intends to convey and the implications of the literary forms he uses to convey it. Doing so foregrounds in the text three borrowed identities that Wilde assumes in order to help define his own. Even though they reveal inconsistencies in his intended persona, we must include that persona in our sense of him, giving some credence to his claim that he has found a higher self. ********** Oscar Wilde's thinking changed while he was in prison. His recent biographer, Richard Ellmann, (1) tells us that after he was released, [Wilde] did not mind contradicting his earlier work (531), in which he had disparaged such subjects as social improvement, by writing two letters to the Daily Chronicle about the state of England's prisons and the mistreatment of prisoners therein. Indeed, many of the standard themes of his earlier aestheticism fall by the way in De Profundis, the long letter he wrote in prison to his friend and lover Lord Alfred Douglas, his connection with whom lay behind his imprisonment. Douglas' self-centeredness and Wilde's inability to extricate himself from their relationship regardless of Douglas' behavior had proven troublesome from the start. Finally, was Douglas' father, the hostility between him and his son, and Wilde's bad legal judgement that resulted in his imprisonment for homosexual acts and his consequent ruin. In De Profundis, he recites his grievances against the young man incident by incident, and expounds, in the posture of teacher, on larger themes of life and art. By the time he wrote the letter, over a three-month period toward the end of his two years in prison, he had suffered a great deal. He had lost his wife, children, financial solvency, and reputation. His health had broken down early in his term, and, though he recovered, continuing isolation, silence, physical discomfort, and manual labor did much to break his spirit. (2) In De Profundis, Wilde attributes to his suffering a profound change of heart. Referring to his earlier days, he writes I treated Art as the supreme reality, and life as a mere mode of fiction.... I amused myself with being a flaneur, a dandy, a man of fashion. I became the spendthrift of my own genius.... I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where pleased me and passed on. I have lain in prison for nearly two years.... I have passed through every possible mood of suffering.... Now I find hidden away in my nature something that tells me that nothing in the whole world is meaningless, and suffering least of all.... My nature is seeking a fresh mode of realisation. (580-582) Such a dramatic evolution would be likely to produce new ways of thinking, and those who know Wilde's earlier work notice many inconsistencies with its premises when reading De Profundis. In the letter, he allows life, while never leaving art behind, to take on a new importance in itself, to be more than simply the context in which art takes place. Furthermore, once the realities of his own life became painful enough, he could no longer trivialize the importance of suffering; once he had reevaluated it, many of his other values shifted accordingly. The fulfillment of one's nature through disguise (Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. (3)) and through Bunburying (a form of role-playing enacted in The Importance of Being Earnest) becomes the evolution of the soul by finding out one's inherent nature (581) and accepting all that has happened to [one] to make [one's self] worthy of it (624). …" @default.
• W340580016 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W340580016 creator A5058285299 @default.
• W340580016 date "1998-09-22" @default.
• W340580016 modified "2023-09-24" @default.
• W340580016 title "Sincerity and the Subject in Wilde's De Profundis" @default.
• W340580016 hasPublicationYear "1998" @default.
• W340580016 type Work @default.
• W340580016 sameAs 340580016 @default.
• W340580016 citedByCount "1" @default.
• W340580016 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W340580016 hasAuthorship W340580016A5058285299 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C107038049 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C11171543 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C124952713 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C15708023 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C15744967 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C161191863 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C205310680 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C2777855551 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C2778355321 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C2781160333 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C313442 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C41008148 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C77805123 @default.
• W340580016 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C107038049 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C11171543 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C124952713 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C138885662 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C142362112 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C15708023 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C15744967 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C161191863 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C205310680 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C2777855551 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C2778355321 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C2781160333 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C313442 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C41008148 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C77805123 @default.
• W340580016 hasConceptScore W340580016C95457728 @default.
• W340580016 hasIssue "2" @default.
• W340580016 hasLocation W3405800161 @default.
• W340580016 hasOpenAccess W340580016 @default.
• W340580016 hasPrimaryLocation W3405800161 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W1513594092 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W15394296 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W1546420564 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W1580760557 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2072146582 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2090107614 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2124321368 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2196632571 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2319200466 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2568889698 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2574924823 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W2596353197 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W261334465 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W267353713 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W270809004 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W421513087 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W47772436 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W48708113 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W625008126 @default.
• W340580016 hasRelatedWork W784850901 @default.
• W340580016 hasVolume "25" @default.
• W340580016 isParatext "false" @default.
• W340580016 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W340580016 magId "340580016" @default.
• W340580016 workType "article" @default.