Oscar Wilde Eros and Aesthetics

This study explores the relationship between Wilde's treatment of sexual subject matter and the development of his literary aesthetics from the earliest volume of poetry through the social comedies which highlighted his career. In addition, the study considers the earliest critical responses to Wilde's works, since they reveal how references to sexual subject matter, particularly to homoerotic themes, were received in Wilde's own period.

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Note on the Title - Note on Texts - Preface - Eros and Aesthetics - Sexual Drama in the Early Poetry - Sexuality and Death: The Fate of Wilde's Heterosexual Lovers - Eroticism and the Dialogic Form - The Dandy Coup de Theatre: Homosexual Eros and the London Stage - Epilogue: Speaking the Unspeakable - Notes - Index