Apply this to Dorian Gray. Write a response where you look at what is going on during Wilde's time, his readers, his ideas, his influences. Use examples from the text and from Brain Pickings. If you choose to pull additional sources, be sure to cite them.
Culture and creativity do not just shape a person’s life, they make it anew. Before Oscar Wilde’s findings and writings, the Victorian Period influenced how people thought and felt. One of most prominent features was that sexuality was often hinted at, not directly shown. Wilde found his homosexualital escape in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Basil loved the very essence of Gray and refused to exhibit the portrait out of fear of his dreadful sins. He and Basil needed the portrait to motivate their art around the idea of beauty and innocence, the backbone of Aestheticism. Aestheticism gave people what they desired, “...[W]e’ve found ourselves amid a culture that purveys cat listicles because, the narrative goes, cat listicles are what the people want.” Dorian wants guidance. He is still young and does not know how to handle the defacing of the portrait. The advice he receives, though, makes Dorian's life harder.
ReplyDeleteDorian Gray has owed his life to Lord Henry Wotton. Every word, phrase, or sentence spoke has influenced him greatly from that moment in the garden, especially the point on pathos and beauty. In finding Sibyl Vane, he realizes beauty beyond acting: a heart-felt emotion raging with a passionate spirit. As love tarnishes her acting, Dorian realizes his mistakes, and starts to cringe at Lord Henry’s words and the painting. His conscience is revealed to him, the moral and just image of his demise. By hiding it, he becomes Steinbeck in his Letters to Elizabeth, “I would like to suggest to you rather than put in new characters and episodes, that you get new readers.” He insists not to change his actions, but instead creates a false sense of mistrust and superstition in his methods of protecting the portrait. Readers can see that Wilde, based on Dorian, is self-centered and becomes easily engrossed in his work, often excluding the advice of editors, yet reexamining circumstances of literature.
Writers must learn to strike a balance between catering and creating. Catering refers to composing a work that will please the masses, but may not be the most intellectually stimulating. Creating is found in a piece of writing that pushes beyond the norms of society and challenges people to think about issues, events, and the human form in different ways. The author of the article agrees with E.B. White when she points out that writers should work on being creative in their work. They should not simply regurgitate information to produce writing that will become a best seller. Often, when things are targeted for the mass market and are commercialized, they lose inherent value and authenticity. It is the responsibility of the writer to move beyond this standard commercialization and provide an insightful piece for readers. It is easy to succumb to the commercialization of society. It is also far too simple to become a people pleaser and write for the masses. John Steinbeck certainly did not want to add characters and delete allusions in his work so “readers will be more interested”. He rejected the catering aspect of writing and moved toward creativity. I hope to do the same and to recognize writers when they have a creative flare, as opposed to a cookie-cutter catered message.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main societal issues Wilde addresses in the beginning of the novel is the homosexual tensions between all of the men. Basil idolizes Dorian as does Lord Henry. Their relationship is used as a way for Wilde to avoid catering to appeasing the masses. Wilde decides to introduce a controversial topic, voicing personal concerns and demonstrating oppression of homosexuals throughout the time period. He was not particularly influenced by others, rather stood out by countering the societal norm.
In this Brain Pickings piece, it is argued that art caters to culture. Artists, writers, and musicians alike are influenced by the culture around them, resulting in aspects of that culture being displayed in their works. Furthermore, the author of this article states that part of the responsibility of these artists to cater to what “‘the people’ already crave”; for it is their own culture that “the people” are most familiar with, and therefore notice most easily connect to in art. Though, E.B. White makes the claim that “writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life”. Just as artists are responsible to cater to what is craved by the people, they are responsible to add to the culture, and create new things and elevating the tastes of society; the creativity of artists is what allows culture to evolve and grow more elaborate.
ReplyDeleteIn his novel, A Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde catered to his audience through the materialistic nature of the characters, focusing on luxury goods and wealth, which were valued in this time period, and determined social status. However, Wilde also made sure to challenge the beliefs held by the society of his time, attributing to the creation of a new culture. The first example of this is his support of homosexuality. Homosexuality had been disapproved of in this time period, but Wilde filled his book with male characters that all had some hint of homosexual desires within them. Wilde secondly challenged his culture’s view of art. Romanticism was prominent around the time that Dorian Gray was written, and it focused on the role of art, as a depiction of culture as well as moral and societal beliefs. Wilde combatted this view with the idea that the purpose of art was nothing more to be beautiful, and that it was not meant to be used to come to conclusions about society. Oscar Wilde’s creativity managed to successfully impact culture, with the acceptance of homosexuality becoming increasingly apparent over time, and more directly spearheading the aestheticism movement.
Everyone wants to be able to relate to each other, especially on the internet, in order to feel less alone. People retweet things because they relate to their own personal experiences and revelations in life, and laugh at memes when they realize that the exact same thing has happened to them or that the exact same feeling expressed by the image is one that has also come over them. On one hand, this is legitimate, and a natural outgrowth of human nature itself; people don’t want to feel alone, and they look to others as not only consolation for these feelings of loneliness, but also as validation for the things that they think might be strange, weird, or unique about themselves, alienating them from others. Just yesterday (and every other month) I
ReplyDeletetalked to my HUDDLE kids, the excel class of which I was once a part, and almost every time I see them one of the things we discuss is how they feel alienated, and how their intellectual and life experiences separate them from the rest of their classmates and their little world. Having been in their shoes, I understand better than anyone how being unique can initiate feelings of not fitting in - however, as I believe Wilde expresses quite poignantly in “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” each individual has to pave their own path, and individuality through art and through life is not necessarily a bad thing. This is especially true when conformity, or simply the desire to be similar to all others in a corrupt (18th-century) or vapid and shallow (21st-century) society causes for that uniqueness, those things that make the individual and individual, disappear. I always remind the kids that their gifts, the things that make them special, are not things to be ashamed of; rather, they need to embrace what they can do as individuals, and as time passes, they will eventually find people with whom they can identify, not because they’ve changed themselves to fit in with them, but because all of them have stayed true to who they really are. In the Brain Pickings piece, after Steinbeck was told to tailor his tales to the audience, he received the message “that rather than put in new characters and episodes, that you get new readers”. Steinbeck’s work had no flaws; rather, if he changed it, it would be flawed, for it would have altered its character to fit within a boundary rather than pushing it. In Wilde’s novel, Dorian unfortunately falls prey to the temptation of being a member of society at large, forfeiting the good and individualized aspects of his person to fit into something that seemed easier although it was not right. Because this society valued appearances over substance, instead of cultivating his own self, he cultivated what they wanted him to appear to be, and in this failed to live up to his potential. Thus, whether for John Steinbeck, fifth graders at Huntington, or Dorian Gray, the best course of action is to stay true to oneself, and if others do not like it, there is all the more reason to.
There are two types of writers, those who write for an audience, and those who write for themselves. Many great authors write for themselves, their mission being, “to create new, more elevated tastes by insisting on the substantive over the vacant,” (Popova). John Steinbeck’s letter provides proof of this, stating that if he were told to edit his work to cater to an audience, he would refuse. As stated by an article in The Guardian, Oscar Wilde was also a victim of censorship when his The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published with about 500 of Wilde’s words deleted. These 500 words included much of the homosexual relationship between Hallward and Gray. However, Wilde wanted to publish his work, and when he did it created public outcry. Writers are subject to the culture around them in more than one way. People have the tendency to write what they know, which is heavily influenced by culture. They are also censored by the culture which is represented in their readers. There is no doubt that good writers are creative writers, and are innovative when it comes to their art. However, once again this creativity can be stunted by the social norms of the time.
ReplyDeleteIn The Picture of Dorian Gray, there is evidence of Wilde being influenced by the culture of the time, specifically the aestheticism movement. When Wilde published his novel in its entirety, he included a preface to defend himself and state that art is nothing more than art. Another thing that influenced his novel is that he also put a considerable amount of himself into his characters. As is stated in The Letters of Oscar Wilde, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks me: Dorian is what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.” Wilde puts very personal feelings and ideals into his work, and his personal influences can be seen in the close relationships between the men. This is important in art because the personality of the artist and the culture of the time is what makes each work of art unique. Many artists in history face public outcry as a result of their controversial work, but this makes the art all the more important.
Creators have the choice to create something original, to channel their art in their own way or to create their art with the desires of the audience in mind. They can make themselves happy and express themselves how they want to, or they can appease the public, and through this choice that each artist makes, they shape culture. John Steinbeck wrote in a letter to his agent, telling her that a newspaper would publish his story as long as he added characters, made his story shorter, and took out the allusions. This newspaper wanted Steinbeck to impact their culture by appeasing the audience, not by telling the story he wanted to tell.
ReplyDeleteOscar Wilde had a similar experience as Steinbeck a couple decades earlier. When The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published, it was censored because it was believed to be scandalous and inappropriate for an audience, and in the face of this criticism Wilde revised the book. Due to the strict morals of the culture Wilde was living in, he was forced to compensate his artistic expression in order to appease the masses. He had to create his art with the desires of the audience in mind. Wilde could not change who his readers were, though it was probably his wish as it was Steinbeck’s.
One of my all time favorite artists is Lana Del Rey. Each of her songs reveal so many of her emotions and personal experiences, making me feel connected to her. Even though I am a 17 year old high schooler raised in the suburban Brunswick, Ohio, and Lana Del Rey is a cool 30 year old living in New York, I can’t help but feel connected to her. Lana, along with many other artists, exposes her deepest self through her lyrics. She writes for herself, not for an audience, and it is reflected in her beautiful lyrics.
ReplyDeleteJohn Steinbeck’s letter shows another artist whom does not write for an audience. When faced with an editor who wishes to edit his work to make it more appealing to the public, Steinbeck replies with a suggestion he gets new readers. Steinbeck is a writer who writes for himself, and is not willing to let censorship change that aspect of his work.
One can see aspects of Oscar Wilde’s life and time period reflected in his novel, The picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde was involved in homosexual relationships, and during his time period this resulted him being put on trial and arrested. This aspect of his personal life is reflected in Basil and his relationship with Dorian. Basil idolized Dorian, and was mesmerized by his beauty. After painting a portrait of Dorian, Basil panics at the idea of his work being published. Dorian’s reason that it can not be shown to an audience is, “There is too much of myself in the thing, Harry-too much of myself!” (Wilde 13). It can be inferred that Basil is worried about the public seeing his love for Dorian through his painting, similar to how Wilde’s homosexuality was shown through his writing.
Wilde, Basil, and other artists lived in fear that what made their art personal would not be accepted by the public, and Steinbeck calls upon this fact while going against criticism.
While reading Dorian Grey, I thought about how Wilde’s commentary on youth and beauty and how important and controlling it is in some people’s lives, is very true to today’s world. We are constantly bombarded with society making us believe that looking younger is beautiful and that we should do anything to make us look like something we are not. We are pushed and pulled into looking like this and acting like that, that we sometimes lose sight as to who we really are. In the Brain Picking piece, John Steinbeck is told to go against the tide, to not write for his friends, his family, his audience, or anyone else but himself. While being told to add this and cut this, etc. by his editor, Steinbeck decides not to listen and to go his own way. Unlike Steinbeck, Basil, in Dorian Grey, is worried and afraid to put his painting of Dorian out there for the public to see. During the time Wilde wrote Dorian Grey, homosexuality was frowned upon and shamed, which resulted in condemning and trials. Basil’s fascination for Dorian and his obsession over his youth and beauty represents his love for Dorian. Basil represents WIlde’s homosexuality and Basil’s worry represents Wilde’s fear of accepting and announcing his sexuality. Wilde and modern artists today are so caught up in what others think about them that they do not put out their work. They should be more like Steinbeck and go against everyone else, and do what they love for their benefit.
ReplyDeletePandering to an an audience, in short, is the act of an artist selling out their work’s heart and artistic integrity. Comparable to selling a soul for the shallow, vain, enterprise of eternal youth and beauty, one finds only material things and empty, emotionless character in the act of pandering. I have to be in agreement with the comedy Hemingway saw in the rejecting of the publisher's letter. It is not the artist's job to appease the audience, it is the job of artist to create a piece the will inspire and guide the consumer to new emotional release and mental standings. Within Dorian Gray, we see Oscar Wilde pander to the new trend of romanticised language that was beginning to be expected within the victorian period. This is the downfall of Dorian Gray. The lofty, droning language forces the reader to drudge through paragraphs upon paragraphs of useless language. For example, “On another occasion he took up the study of jewels, and appeared at a costume ball as Anne de Joyeuse, Admiral of France, in a dress covered with five hundred and sixty pearls. He would often spend a whole day settling and resettling in their cases the various stones that he had collected, such as the olive-green chrysoberyl that turns red by lamplight, the cymophane with its wire-like line of silver, the pistachio-colored peridot, rose-pink and wine-yellow topazes, carbuncles of fiery scarlet with tremulous four-rayed stars, flame- red cinnamon-stones, orange and violet spinels, and amethysts with their alternate layers of ruby and sapphire. He loved the red gold of the sunstone, and the moonstone’s pearly whiteness, and the broken rainbow of the milky opal. He procured from Amsterdam three emeralds of extraordinary size and richness of color, and had a turquoise de la vieille roche that was the envy of all the connoisseurs.” This excessive description of a hobby goes beyond it’s intended purpose and removes the reader from the characters and conflicts of the novel. Through pandering the author loses his original artistic beauty of Dorian’s conflict. Pandering is he death of good art and it is the creator’s responsibility to rise above it and contribute something new.
ReplyDeleteThere has never been a fine balance between catering and creating, which is one of the more difficult obstacles for artists to overcome. As John Steinbeck’s letter to his friend pointed out, author’s are often pressured into creating works that are appealing to audience- Steinbeck was ordered to add characters and remove historical allusions so that the “readers will be more interested.” However, Steinbeck was not satisfied with this because he wanted to publish his story. Steinbeck provides an example of an artist that creates work not for an audience, but for himself. Throughout history this task has been difficult to do and Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, proves the difficulty. Basil’s love for Dorian had to be censored when the novel was published in 1890 because homosexuality was something society disapproved of. As the article from Brain Pickings pointed out, it is important for artists to create pieces for themselves and not just for an audience but can Oscar Wilde really be blamed for doing this? When taking the time era Wilde lived in into consideration, his novel almost certainly would not have been published if the homosexuality was not censored. Fame and success is a common goal for almost every artist, making it difficult to create works solely for themselves because without an audience is an artist truly successful?
ReplyDeleteWhat Wilde did was in accordance with other literary trends of his time. “If there is one transcending aspect to Victorian England life and society, that aspect is change – or, more accurately, upheaval. Everything that the previous centuries had held as sacred and indisputable truth came under assault during the middle and latter parts of the nineteenth century. Nearly every institution of society was shaken by rapid and unpredictable change.” (http://www.online-literature.com/periods/victorian.php) Wilde writes a novel on homosexuality and the effects of its repression, which results in his imprisonment. He did so in the preferred vehicle as well, “At some point in the Victorian era, the novel replaced the poem as the most fashionable vehicle for the transmission of literature”. In this vein, Wilde wasn’t really a wild card, he followed what he saw to be the most popular method of communication and the common sentiment of the time - “upheaval”.
ReplyDeleteBecause I believe the novel to be a dreadful pile of intestinal rejections I cannot willfully say it lifts readers any higher than they stand of their own accord, as the Brain Pickings blog suggests is the responsibility of writers. However, perhaps at the time of its conception it held much greater impact and social commentary, perhaps it was the first Victorian novel to challenge hetero-normative ideals. After some research I’ve found this to be true, “Early in the century, when homosexual activity was perceived almost exclusively as a crime, a sin, or both, men who engaged sexually with one another were most often labelled "sodomites." Other terms gained currency as the century proceeded, including "inverts" and "Uranians"; each term reflected a different conception of same-sex desire. This array of labels and meanings consolidated into the pervasive "homosexuality" only after the 1895 trial of Oscar Wilde for his liaisons with other men.” (http://www.enotes.com/topics/homosexuality-nineteenth-century-literature)
Does this mean that his novel was the main cause of change? It was the thing that landed him in the courtroom, so maybe. Either way, Wilde pushed society with his actions, not his writing.
In the article, Maria Popova discusses the relationship between writers and any obligation they supposedly have to the public as a whole. The argument comes when a writer’s creation conflicts with what is desired by the public for their consumption. Steinbeck presented his novel and his editor wanted to censor it under the guise of the allusions would “only confuse [the] readers”. Censorship is commonly associated with the propaganda of a dictatorship, yet when presented in this way, the word seems to lose its negative connotation. Writers are expected to conform and create for the good of the people; after all, a book is hardly a book if no one reads it. Yet, writers are also told to produce work that will expand upon the people’s knowledge, present some new way of thinking. The time period in which the artist creates seems to decide where the line between the two ideals is drawn. In the Victorian age, Wilde was restricted from detailing the relationship Dorian had with Basil, among others, because that was a time when the general public had a tendency to hide things about themselves, especially anything involving homosexuality. This hiding of emotions is shown in Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” where a man creates a potion resulting in the transformation of a new person, simply to serve as an outlet to express his darker desires for sex and murder. A century later, we still see even a classic author like Steinbeck being censored to better fit the readers in his time period. Logically, this way of writing and censorship cannot make sense if a work is to stand “the test of time in some way, regardless of the date of publication” (College Board literary merit criteria list). Thus, I agree with Popova and E.B. White that the writer serves to create and “to lift people up” not cater and “lower them down”.
ReplyDeleteWriters must be true to who they are in their writing or all that they produce will be absolute blather. Only the ignorant enjoy the soulless work of a writer who only wrote what they thought their audience wanted to read. The thing that makes art beautiful is the fact that it is different, can be uncomfortable, and makes people think. Creativity is seeing everything being uniform and deciding to do something different. The duty of a writer is, as it is written in the Brain Pickings article, is, "to create new, more elevated tastes by insisting on the substantive over the vacant." Culture is not the "right" way to do things, it is only the accepted way. The only way for culture and society to change and improve is through people daring to be different and going against the status quo.
ReplyDeleteDuring Wilde's time, homosexuality was a sin that could get one sent to prison. This happened to Wilde and caused his ruin, even after he was released from hard labor he lived in poverty. Just because the culture he lived in did not believe people should be allowed to be homosexual, does not make homophobia right. In current culture, more and more people are accepting those who are different and gay marriage has been legalized. This would have been unthinkable in Wilde's time, yet it happened. Wilde's homosexual desires are apparent in the relationships between the characters in "The Picture of Dorian Gray." These connections are part of what led to the novel being criticized for being immoral and scandalous. Despite the hardships Wilde experienced because his society was not yet ready for his writing or actions, that he wrote how he truly felt is important and is part of why "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is still an important novel today.
Not only did Wilde upset the way things are with his homosexual acts and undertones, he stirred the pot with his belief in aestheticism. Victorian England was ingrained with the idea that art should reflect and enforce a strict moral code. Artists were hired to paint what benefactors wanted, but aestheticism challenged these traditions. Aestheticists believed art is beautiful for the sake of being beautiful, and does not need to serve a further purpose.Wilde wrote the novel to demonstrate his belief through the portrait of Gray. After the poor initial reception of the novel, Wilde did adjust it by adding a preface and new characters. The fact that Wilde changed the book, he wrote what he believed and felt and, though his culture was not yet ready for it, created a book that has had a profound effect on people and other works of art since its publication.
Since I moved to Brunswick, I’ve lost touch with many of my childhood friends from private school. It’s funny how the people we once were so close to can turn into faint and blurred images in our memories. You know, the ones with names that are always just hanging on the tip of our tongues and that start with some letter we just can’t pin down…
ReplyDeleteThe classmates from my younger days that I can remember the best aren’t the quiet ones, or even the ones I used to be closest to; it’s the ones who would put boogers in people’s hair during library time, stuck erasers in their ears time and time again and had to go to the nurse’s office to get them extracted, and of course the ones that made the class giggle even when the teacher was far from amused. (As awful as this sounds, it’s hard to deny that I wasn’t easily entertained by the stupidity of my classmates.)
From what I have gathered, Oscar Wilde was much like that class clown at my old school. His “polished manners—together with his witty and satirical nature—made him a prominent figure in literary and social circles of the time,” (http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/w/oscar-wilde.html) he was one of the cool, funny kids of Victorian Lit. However, “his flamboyancy and mockery of religion and traditional customs made him a disagreeable figure within the more conventional social groups,” (same source) and the stingy teacher-type of grade school (for the lack of a better term and continuity; sorry Mrs. Perrin!) weren’t very amused by his lack of conformity. I am rather entertained by the thought of how uncomfortable the relationship between Basil and Dorian made Victorian England, and can only hope that Wilde did not live in regret for putting so much of his own emotion into the book that caused so much scandal. While ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ caused Victorian England to squirm, Wilde inevitably helped to broaden the restrictions of the 19th-century literature and set the tone for modernism. Just as the E.B. White quote in the Brain Pickings piece states, “writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.” Culture has such a huge impact on art of any kind, but that does not mean that artists always have to always conform with the mainstream. Sometimes, you just have to be the troublesome one and make an impact in order to be remembered.
The overarching theme of the Brian Pickings piece broils down to the simple fact that creating requires creativity. To cater to the culture of a time is nothing more than to regurgitative the social norms and values and reflect it. This is why John Steinbeck refused to edit his novel to conform to the will of the publisher. To change his own novel due to an outside influence, Steinbeck's novel changes from a work he himself created, to a work that simply caters to what the people of the time desire. Steinbeck's letter is a perfect example that shows the differences between catering and creating. As far as The Picture of Dorian Gray is concerned, the fact that Wilde's novel drew controversy and raised eyebrows proves that he went against the social values of the time. While some may argue that the novel itself lacks significant literary merit, it would be difficult to argue that Dorian Gray went against the culture of ninetieth century England; "The Victorian era is often thought of as a time when society and its rules were rigid and strict. The term prudish is used very much in reference to this point in time. Morality of the Victorian era is based upon a group of principles or standard of moral conduct including practicing sexual restraint, zero acceptance of criminal activity and a stern demeanor." (http://www.victorian-era.org/victorian-era-morality.html) Wildes social commentary on these principles stands in stark contrast to the morality of the time. By doing this, Wilde creates a work of art that challenges societal values without compromising his own beliefs
ReplyDeleteThe Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890. During this time period, the industrial revolution was in full swing. Many things were constantly changing meaning that influences were found all around. As White said “writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life,”. During the time, many were wondering about the interpretation of art- as in whether or not it was up to the created or observer to have emotion. Can emotions be transferred through art? Oscar Wilde thinks the answer is yes. The main character, Dorian Gray, is shown to eventually be one with the art. We know that he is not the creator, so we see him as an observer. He is so connected with the piece, that they become one. Wilde is commenting on the differences between Basil and Gray, creator and receiver. Brainpickings said “No doubt there is a necessary dialogue between catering and creating”. Basil and Gray had many conversations throughout the novel and were actually quite close friends, especially in the beginning. As the novel went on and the portrait deteriorated, so did the friendship. The eventual end of Basil’s life, also shows the end of Dorian’s. They are connected by this painting, showing that they cannot exist without each other.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Brain Pickings article, E.B. White states that the responsibility of the writer is “to lift people up, not lower them down.”
ReplyDeleteI’d have to disagree with this statement. It is not a writer’s responsibility to cultivate higher tastes in the masses any more than it is my responsibility to ensure that everybody paints their favorite jacket purple and tacks onto it a wreath made entirely of peanuts.
A writer may certainly produce material that can prompt someone towards higher tastes, but it is not at all their “responsibility” to do so. That responsibility rests squarely and solely on the shoulders of the consumer or reader.
The other major point the article makes is that writers should not cater to the masses, and should stick to this so-called “responsibility” that writers supposedly have.
So how does Oscar Wilde fit into all this?
Well, he certainly wasn’t catering to readers’ expectations. That much is clear enough from the criticism received by The Picture of Dorian Gray. For example, London’s Daily Chronicle called it “unclean...leprous literature...a poisonous book...heavy with...moral and spiritual putrefaction” (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/review/the-picture-of-dorian-gray). Clearly the homosexual themes in the novel did not go over well.
Though Wilde claims in the preface that books are just “well written, or badly written,” his novel clearly calls into question the prevailing attitudes of the time. Whether or not readers evaluated the implications and chose to better themselves having read the novel remained up to them. It is clear, however, that they refused – the Criminal Law Amendment Act that Wilde was prosecuted under remained in place from 1885 to 1967.
In each society, there are those who choose to change themselves in order to fit the image expected by their peers, and there those who choose to challenge and change the culture of their world. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde decided to use his novel to challenge the culture of his time period while keeping his writing style similar to other writers of the Victorian Period. During the late 1800’s, Wilde was arrested for participating in an affair with another man. Before his arrest however, Wilde’s homosexuality is often reflected in his novel. Though the characters in the The Picture of Dorian Gray are not described as gay, Wilde hints at homosexuality through the obvious intimacy between them. This intimacy is especially seen through the way Basil views Dorian. While discussing the changes that have occurred in his life due to Dorian, Basil states that, “I see things differently, I think of them differently. I can now re-create life in a way that was hidden from me before. ‘A dream of form in days of thought,’—who is it who says that? I forget; but it is what Dorian Gray has been to me” (Wilde 17). The devotion and admiration that Basil feels towards Dorian is much deeper than that a person typically feels towards their friends. Though homosexuality was considered an abomination during his time, Wilde still chose to go against his culture and include it in his novel. The Brain Pickings article questions, “is the responsibility of the cultural enterprise to cater to what people, or “the people,” already crave, or is it to create new, more elevated tastes by insisting on the substantive over the vacant?” (Popova). Though there are many authors who compromise their art in order to please the readers, Wilde chose to create a new and advanced culture through his work.
ReplyDeleteThe Brain Pickings article states that the author holds an obligation to society and the common beliefs of that time period. The author is supposed to write what the people want to hear, “the responsibility of the cultural enterprise to cater to what people, or “the people,” already crave”. Challenging the system and creating a new point of view is another problem that face authors. Should they say what is expected of them or should they speak their own thoughts and create something new, even if it breaks all social norms.
ReplyDeleteIn the Picture of Dorian Grey, Wilde challenges the social norms of his time period. In his time homosexuality was seen as a crime both against God and against society. Through Wilde’s writing he showed homosexual ideas, mainly through Basil’s love for Dorian, that shook society. It was not something that society was used to, the idea was looked down upon by almost everyone. So in that sense Wilde did not cater to the wants of his readers or societal norms. The people were disgusted by the novel and refused to accept his ideas. Wilde did not change much about society, he merely challenged it and failed in getting people to accept what he said.
I am a firm believer that in their works, a writer or an artist of any sort must put part of who they are in their pieces. A writer who produces work or writes just to please a certain audience or someone other than themselves, is not being true to themselves or the art. I’ve always defined art as forms of self expression, so if an artist is not putting their soul into a piece, then is it really even art? John Steinbeck’s letter is a prime example of an artist who does things to make themselves happy, not to please an audience. When his editor stated that he would only publish his works if multiple edits were made to make the book better for what he thought to be the ideal audience, Steinbeck suggested that instead they find new readers. Steinbeck stayed true to himself, and didn’t sacrifice his work and more importantly his happiness, just to please someone else. Oscar Wilde’s is another example of a person, who in his time period did not hold back or change his work to please others. Wilde had been involved in homosexual relationships and due to his time period this caused him to be arrested. It is obvious that Wilde, since he could not show it in his personal life, reflected his feelings into the characters of Dorian Gray and Basil. Basil worships Dorian not only for his beauty, but for the pureness of his soul, before he was corrupted. The way Basil panics at the idea of someone seeing the way he views Dorian can be directly related to the Public shaming Wilde for his homosexuality, which is why he instead had to show it in his writing, just as Basil could only show his true feelings in his art. Wilde feared the way his work would be perceived in his time period, while Steinbeck was more concerned about being content with his work, not catering to or censoring himself for an audience.
ReplyDeleteWriters are in control of their medium. The choice whether to create something unique or similar to that which they already know or have seen, based on their life experiences, is their own. As E.B White stated,“ writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life,” so they reflect as well as add to society with their contributions in literature. Yet, as Maria Popova wrote, our agents of culture are abdicating their responsibility to create more elevated tastes and capitulating to catering,” because capitulating appears to be the easiest manner in which to gain praise in society. In order to avoid any unwelcome publicity writers could simply reproduce concepts favorable to their time. Why risk creating something new that could be removed from public view because its idiosyncrasies defy the “norm” at the time of its publication? However, in doing so the writer could be considered sacrificing their artistic integrity as well as vain due to their decision seemingly valuing external praise over intellectual individuality. For example in the article from brainpickings Maria Popova quoted John Steinbeck's “Letters to Elizabeth” in which a publisher explained what Steinbeck must do for one of his works to be published:” The pace must be considerably speeded up and many of the historical and literary allusions must be removed since they will only confuse our readers.” Here Steinbeck would have to sacrifice a portion of his artistic creation in order to satisfy the requirements of an outside viewpoint, so society can appear to stifle creativity in favor of assimilation to what is deem prefered. Giving the readers more of what they already have seen to keep them content not only damages a writer’s artistic vision but also inhibits the evolution of a culture by depriving it of new ideas.
ReplyDeleteOscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray portrays a great example of a society possibly hindering a work of literature. Due to the homosexual nature of Basil Hallward’s relationship with Dorian Gray, the man character, the British public became outraged with remarks from Basil over Dorian such stating that ,“ He is absolutely necessary to me” ( Wilde 11). At the time of writing ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray” Great Britain was a society based entirely on heterosexual relationships to the point that Oscar Wilde was tried capable of being tried under the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Even the novel was almost used as evidence of Wilde being a “posing sodomite”as remarked by Marquess of Queensbury (Wilde xxxi). For trying to express ideas contrary to the “norm” of his time Wilde was hated as well as condemned for actions supposedly against society.
Sorry for the grotesque grammatical error with the hindering addition of tried before capable of being tried. That was sheer negligence as well as panic on my part not to have seen it before I submitted.
DeleteAlthough Oscar Wilde was not the writer who vaulted Aestheticism to popularity, his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a striking presentation which effectively influenced readers’ perception of art by venturing into unexplored territory. Prevailing literary tendencies at the time included Transcendentalist philosophy, which held that there was inherent good in all men, and Romanticism, which held that art was beautiful when it depicted the truth and was infused with an author’s commentary of morality. This was what the reader expected, what the reader liked. And according to the Brain Pickings article, this was what writers irresponsibly catered to – resulting in a stagnation of culture and art. Aestheticism went against Romanticism, holding that art need only exist for aesthetic value, not morality or commentary. Wilde’s novel was an example of Aestheticism, but it wasn’t just any example: it shocked critics with its dark protagonist, Dorian Gray, who exhibited both believable humanity and believable – yet horrifying – abnegation from morality. Dorian’s humanity lay in his occasional feelings of guilt and sympathy for his victims: his regret for abandoning Sibyl Vane was so strong that he managed to dismiss temptation by laying aside a letter from Lord Henry and almost refusing to let his old friend in. This humanity was familiar to readers and we cheered when we saw it. But what wasn’t familiar was Dorian’s easy dismissal of morality: by shutting empathy out, Dorian could twist logic into new ways that worked to his base desires while appearing perfectly reasonable in his own mind, preventing his sense of morality from triggering and stopping him. Even though this idea would be universally decried in real life, Wilde saw the beauty of the strange logic, the aesthetic of a normal mind without empathy –the intriguing thinking of a simple, typical consciousness where the only thing missing is the ability to understand the emotions of someone other than yourself. By publishing this novel, Wilde was exercising the responsibility of a writer to “inform and shape life,” to “create more elevated tastes,” instead of catering and merely reflecting familiar Transcendentalist beliefs and life in the status quo.
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