I have just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and doing so inspired a few other things... reading the letters he wrote to Douglas, reading Douglas' poems, reading Wilde's poem written while imprisoned in Reading, looking at photographs of the two lovers (in addition to photographs of Wilde's wife and child), and reading about the infamous trial.
In addition, I have read some criticism on Wilde, specifically in the context of homosexuality. In her fascinating article entitled "Decadence, Homosexuality, and Feminism," Elaine Showalter writes, "The Wilde trial 'crystallized the homosexual emancipation movement'" (172). What has been especially interesting to me is that before reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, my professor encouraged us to dog-ear the homoerotic passages. And yet, my book contains not a single dog-ear. Yes, there was one blatantly sexualized scene wherein Basil puts in his mouth the end of a large, wooden paint brush, but other than that, I in all sincerity did not detect any homoerotic passages. Now, the disclaimer here is this: I know the behavior of men toward one another was quite different at the time Wilde wrote this book. If these behaviors were to take place today, certainly I would be a dog-earring fool. However, this line of reasoning does inspire another kind of explanation. Am I so jaded by the proliferation of blatant homoerotic behaviors in our society today that I am now unable to recognize the subtleties that once existed? It is an interesting question, and something that I will enjoy discussing in our class conversation this afternoon.
Aside from the homosexual nature of Wilde as an artist and a person, and aside from the homoerotic passages in The Picture of Dorian Gray, I find Wilde to be, as ever, hilarious, witty, clever, and absolutely delightful in all ways. Reading the horrible account of Dorian Gray was made light due to the snarky epigrammatic expressions that appeared throughout the text. For that, Mr. Wilde, I can remember quite clearly why I, too, kissed your grave with all the passion I could afford.
