Oscar Wilde:The Pioneer Writer of British Aestheticism

◎朱广春

他是著名的作家、诗人、戏剧家，是十九世纪与萧伯纳齐名的英国才子。回顾他的一生，匆匆四十六年，在巅峰处跌落谷底，在病痛中走向人生的终点。然而，他留下的妙言警句却仍然被后人征引，作品更是成为不朽的经典。正如余光中所说，他的锦心绣口，微言大义，历经一百多年犹能令他的广大读者与观众惊喜甚至深思。他就是英国唯美主义艺术运动的倡导者——奥斯卡·王尔德。

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900),was an advocate of the British aestheticism art movement,and a famous writer,poet and playwright.He has been regarded as one of the greatest British writers and artists of the 19th century.

Wilde was born in Dublin,Ireland in 1854.His father was a surgeon and his mother was a writer.He received a good education in his childhood,and began to1)emergein the literary world after publishing his first bookPoetry Anthology.

Wilde entered Magdalen College,University of Oxford in 1874.During this period,he was influenced by the aesthetic concepts of Walter Pater and John Ruskin,and was exposed to the works of the Neo-Hegelian philosophy,Darwin’s theory of evolution,and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood movement,which laid the foundation for his later becoming a pioneer writer of aestheticism.

In 1888,his first collection of fairy tales,The Happy Prince and Other Tales,was published,which includedThe Happy Prince,The Nightingale and the Rose,The Selfish Giant,The Devoted Friend,and The Remarkable Rocket,causing an immediate sensation.These works not only attracted children,but also stirred up a lot of waves in the hearts of adults.They were deeply moved by its beautiful language and2)exquisitebeauty.Beauty has always been the theme of Wilde’s fairy tales,existing against3)ugliness.InThe Happy Prince,the prince and the little swallow,inThe Nightingale and the Rose,the nightingale,are all4)embodimentsof beauty and carriers of beauty,and Wilde attributes the ultimate beauty of human nature to ultimate love.

In 1891,his frist novel,The Picture of Dorian Gray,was published.In the same year,another collection of his fairy tales,A House of Pomegranates,was released,which includedThe Young King,The Birthday of the Infanta,The Fisherman and His Soul,andThe Star-child,bringing him great fame.However,what truly earned him a reputation was his theatrical works.His three works were once5)simultaneouslyperformed on the London stage.The most famous one isThe Importance of Being Earnest,which is a comedy that satirizes the mainstream society at that time.Therefore,he and George Bernard Shaw are called the “two flags” of modern British drama.

Wilde’s life was full of ups and downs.In the Victorian era at the end of the 19th century,there was a fierce conflict between the old and new fashions in the British upper class,and Wilde’s free style quickly made him a victim of this conflict.In May 1895,he was convicted and sentenced to 2 years in prison.In November 1900,he died of illness at a hotel in Paris at the age of 46.

In November 1998,after nearly a century of disrepute,the United Kingdom finally erected a bronze statue in honor of Oscar Wilde in Adelaide Street near Trafalgar Square,London.Under the bronze statue is written what he said,“We’re all in the gutter,but some of us are looking at the stars.”

In October 2007,according to Reuters,a British television channel called UKTV announced the list of “Most Intelligent British People”selected by the public through voting.Wilde received over 20% of the votes and was elected as the most intelligent master in the hearts of the public.

In October 2013,The Guardianreported that in the fifth edition of theOxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations,Oscar Wilde became the writer with the most quoted quotations.

Disobedience is man’s original virtue.

To love yourself is the beginning of lifelong romance.

Be yourself;everyone else is already taken.

...

Reading these words by Wilde,have you felt that he was too much of a maverick in the history of English literature?

1) emergev.浮现；显露

2) exquisiteadj.精美的

3) uglinessn.丑陋

4) embodimentn.化身

5) simultaneouslyadv.同时地

奥斯卡·王尔德（1854—1900），英国唯美主义艺术运动的倡导者，著名的作家、诗人、戏剧家，被誉为19 世纪英国最伟大的作家与艺术家之一。

1854 年，王尔德生于爱尔兰的都柏林，父亲是一名外科医生，母亲是一位作家。他自幼受到良好的教育，从出版首本书《诗集》后，便在文坛崭露头角。

王尔德于1874 年进入牛津大学莫德林学院学习。其间，他受到了沃尔特·佩特及约翰·拉斯金的审美观念影响，并接触了新黑格尔派哲学、达尔文进化论和前拉斐尔派的作品，这为他之后成为唯美主义先锋作家奠定了基础。

1888 年，他的第一部童话集《快乐王子及其他故事》面世，其中包括《快乐王子》《夜莺与玫瑰》《自私的巨人》《忠实的朋友》和《神奇的火箭》，轰动一时。这些作品不单吸引了孩子们，也在成年人的心里激起了涟漪。他们都被作品中优美的语言和精致的美感深深打动。美，一直是王尔德童话的主题，它在与丑恶的对比中展现。《快乐王子》中的王子与小燕子和《夜莺与玫瑰》中的夜莺都是美的化身、美的象征，王尔德将人性的至美归于至爱。

1891年，他的第一本小说《道林·格雷的画像》发表，同年他的另一部童话集《石榴之家》问世，其中包括《少年国王》《西班牙公主的生日》《渔夫和他的灵魂》和《星孩》，使他声名大噪。然而，真正为他赢得声誉的是戏剧作品。曾经的伦敦舞台同时上演他的三部作品。其中最著名的是《不可儿戏》，这是一部讽刺当时主流社会的喜剧。因此，他与乔治·伯纳德·萧并称英国现代戏剧的“两面旗帜”。

王尔德的一生大起大落。19 世纪末的维多利亚时代，英国上流社会里新旧风尚冲突激烈，王尔德的自由作风很快使他成为这场冲突的牺牲品。1895 年5 月，他被判有罪，在监狱服刑两年。1900年11 月，他病逝于巴黎的一家旅馆，终年46 岁。

1998 年11 月，在遭到毁誉近一个世纪后，英国终于在伦敦特拉法尔加广场附近的阿德莱德街树立了王尔德荣誉铜像。铜像下写着他说过的话：“我们都生活在阴沟里，但仍有人仰望星空。”

2007 年10 月，据路透社报道，英国一家名为UKTV 的电视频道揭晓了由民众投票选出的“最具智慧英国人”榜单，王尔德获得了超过20%的选票，当选为民众心目中最有智慧的大师。

2013 年10 月，据英国《卫报》报道，奥斯卡·王尔德成为第五版《牛津幽默语录词典》中被引用语录最多的作家。

不服从，是人类与生俱来的美德。

爱自己，是终身浪漫的开始。

做你自己！因为别人都已经有人做了。

……

读着王尔德的这些句子，你是否已感受到了他在英国文学史上的特立独行？