"He is not one of those writers who as the centuries change lose their relevance.  Wilde is one of us. His wit is an agent of renewal, as pertinent now as a hundred years ago.  The questions posed by both his art and his life lend his art a quality of earnestness, an earnestness which he always disavowed."

--Richard Ellman, Oscar Wilde

Ellman's comment from his definitive biography of Oscar Wilde captures a number of significant observations about Wilde's life and work: his continuing relevance and interest to readers today, his use of wit and humor not simply to entertain but also to reform society, the importance of reading his work in the context of his life and his life in the context of his work, the earnestness which permeates his life and work and the difficulty of determining when he is sincere and insincere--irony is, after all, the central trope his oeuvre.

As we study Wilde's life and work over the coming weeks, we will explore these issues and many others. Most of you know Wilde primarly as the author of the The Importance of Being Earnest and may expect his work to fit comfortably into this comedic category.  Others of you may know Wilde's aesthetic poetry or perhaps his  gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.  However, Wilde is also an accomplished writer of children's literature, experimental drama, a variety of poetic forms, and essays and criticism.  We will read examples of all these genre to create a complex, contradictory, and compelling understanding of Wilde and his work.  Towards this end, we'll have the following specific goals this term:

• read the works closely so that you can use evidence and explanation to argue effectively for your particular interpretations in writing and orally;

• determine the Wilde's relationship to Victorian and modern literature, history, and culture;

• determine what makes Wilde's work distinctive;

• negotiate the relationship between the different versions of Wilde's life and his literary work.

I will occassionally lecture, but the pedagogy of this class mostly discussion-based.  Consequently, it is is critical that you read the works carefully, closely, and critically. You should come to class with preliminary interpretations of the works, questions that will foster our discussions, and passages that you think are worthy of conversation.     Overall, I want this to be a class where everyone shares, where everyone listens, where you build upon each other's ideas, where you may politely disagree, stick to your views when meritted, and change your minds when you're persuaded. 

You will write a couple of essays (one traditional argumentative analysis and one theatrically-oriented essay), produce precis of an article or an annotated bibliography of a set of reviews, and take a final exam. 

Since much of Wilde's work is drama intended for presentation on the stage, I require you to view four films outside of class time (see course calendar).  We will view these films as a group, so get these dates on your calendars ASAP.

Attendance: Your participation in this course is essential, and as a result, so is attendance.  You are allowed to miss three class periods without penalty.  An absence after three will likely result in a W, F, or WF in the class.  Your three absences are to be used for the inevitable doctor’s visits, illnesses, sports events, court appointments, and funerals that may come up during the term. Extraordinary circumstances will be dealt with on a one-to-one basis. If you plan to be absent, tell me beforehand, so you can submit work ahead of time.  I rarely accept late work. 

Learning Time: You should expect to work an average fourteen hours each week for this class, including the three hours of class time. You should devote an average of ten-eleven hours out of class each week to activities such as closely reading and analyzing texts; pre-writing, planning, drafting, revising, peer reviewing, and editing for essays the brief research project; viewing films; conferencing with me; and studying for exams and  quizzes.