Verschenen: Oscar Wilde’s Elegant Republic Transformation, Dislocation and Fantasy in fin-de-siècle Paris

19 december 2015 – Zojuist verschenen en om nog even snel onder de kerstboom te leggen of volgend jaar rustig en aandachtig te lezen: in  Oscar Wilde’s Elegant Republic. Transformation, Dislocation and Fantasy in fin-de-siècle Paris exploreert David Charles Rose uitvoerig het Parijs van Oscar Wilde:  Why was Paris so popular as a place of both innovation and exile in the late nineteenth century? Using French, English and American sources, this first volume of a trilogy provides a possible answer with a detailed exploration of both the city and its communities, who, forming a varied cast of colourful characters from duchesses to telephonists, artists to beggars, and dancers to diplomats, crowd the stage. Through the throng moves Oscar Wilde as the connecting thread: Wilde exploratory, Wilde triumphant, Wilde ruined. This use of Wilde as a central figure provides both a cultural history of Paris and a view of how he assimilated himself there.  By interweaving fictional representations of Paris and Parisians with historical narrative, Paris of the imagination is blended with the topography of the city described by Victor Hugo as ‘this great phantom composed of darkness and light’. Hier kunt u een fragment lezen en eventueel een exemplaar bestellen.