The Role of the Reader in Oscar Wilde's Works

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: summa cum laude (Grade 1), , language: English, abstract: This book is an updated version of my doctoral dissertation, 'The Role of the Reader in Oscar Wilde's Narrative and Dramatic Works', for which I was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Philology and was granted the distinction 'summa cum laude' (University of La Rioja, 2002). In celebration of the 160th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's birth, I have extended my PhD dissertation in order to include an analysis of the main critical works on Wilde written in the first years of the twenty-first century with a double purpose, namely, to complement the lines of investigation explored on my previous study with the latest contributions on the subject and to set it on an up-to-date framework so as to strengthen the conclusions reached in it in the light of the most recent Wildean research. The present study explores Oscar Wilde's creative writings from the hypothesis that they called upon the active participation of the reader in the construction of their meaning. It has a twofold objective: first, to show that Wilde's emphasis on the creative role of the reader in his critical writings makes him conceive him as a co-creator in the production of meaning; second, to explore the literary strategies which Wilde employs to impel the reader to participate dynamically in the production of the meaning of his works as well as to cast light upon the social criticism which is derived from them. The examination of Oscar Wilde's works is divided up into chapters devoted to specific literary genres in order to show how he gradually developed a remarkable ability to combine more sophisticated techniques that encourage the reader's active role with the progressive incorporation of elements that allow the 'commercial' Oscar to make his works successful among the public without betraying the 'literary' Wilde's artistic principles. The analysis of the role of the reader in Oscar Wilde's works permits to revaluate Wilde as a critic and as a writer. Furthermore, it demonstrates that, apart from the fact that Wilde the 'myth' went ahead of his age in a wide range of aspects, there exists Wilde the 'ARTIST', who anticipated various themes in his aesthetic theory which concern contemporary literary theoreticians. This opens the possibility to a vast number of research writings about Oscar Wilde that may contribute to understand the origins of current literary interests and give him the status he rightly deserves in the history of literature.