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Contribution : what IS the purpose of the preface?

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Contribution : what IS the purpose of the preface?

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Wilde concludes the preface by saying that it is fine to create something useful so long as it is not admired as art. The only reason for creating something useless is to admire it a great deal. Thus, "All art is quite useless." That is, it exists for its own sake as art ("art for art's sake") and not for some moral purpose.
Daniela Badolato

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Society -- civilized society, at least -- is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating. It feels instinctively that manners are of more importance than morals, and, in its opinion, the highest respectability is of much less value than the possession of a good chef. (11)

Society, we see, is just as hypocritical as Dorian himself; though it prides itself on its morality, that very same morality falls to pieces in the face of wealth and status. This is acommentary onthe inconsistent judgments of high society – one of the main rules of "civilized" people is that the wealthy and powerful never really suffer from scandal.
Daniela Badolato

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Oscar Wilde explains his artistic convictions in his preface and the main purpose, from my point of view, is to help readers to open their minds, to be able to appreciate art itself. According to the author “There is no such thing as moral or immoral book.” He says this because of reviewers’ accusations of obscenity and immorality at that time and he also claims that all that kind of morbid thoughts were reflections of those who see/interpret it but not of the book itself.

His novel is a piece of art as many others, you can like it or not but there is not immorality in it. Wilde asserts that artists are creators of beautiful things, “A book can be well written or badly written” but immorality, corruption and sins are part of human beings ( not of the book). He needs to explain this because of all the insults and charges he received by the critic. Among other things, they criticised his novel for being false art, immoral, morbid, obscene and a “poisonous book”. Through his preface he tries to teach to mend their ignorance and wicked ways.

Katherine Morales

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Contribution: What does it tell us about the nineteenth century Victorian society?In Britain the novel had many critics during the time it was realized. Newspapers and magazine reviewers of the time wrote a plenty of condemnations. One example is the Daily Chronicle reviewer, who introduced the novel as: “… a poisonous book… (Beckson, p.72). It was also seen as false art, false to human nature, false to human nature and an artistic error. Wilde published letters to answer the critics. The preface is an answer to the judgements of the time. One of his answers is: “There is no such thing as a moral or inmoral book. Books are well written or badly written.” (Wilde, 1891: 3) In addition, the nineteenth century Victorian society judged the homoerotic literature. During this time homosexual behavior was punishable. Ingrid Micale

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Contribution: What does it tell us about the nineteenth century Victorian society?In Britain the novel had many critics during the time it was realized. Newspapers and magazine reviewers of the time wrote a plenty of condemnations. One example is the Daily Chronicle reviewer, who introduced the novel as: “… a poisonous book… (Beckson, p.72). It was also seen as false art, false to human nature, false to human nature and an artistic error. Wilde published letters to answer the critics. The preface is an answer to the judgements of the time. One of his answers is: “There is no such thing as a moral or inmoral book. Books are well written or badly written.” (Wilde, 1891: 3) In addition, the nineteenth century Victorian society judged the homoerotic literature. During this time homosexual behavior was punishable. Ingrid Micale

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What does it tell us about the nineteenth century Victorian society? (Gastón Jansen)

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What does it tell us about the nineteenth century Victorian society? (Gastón Jansen)

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Oscar Wilde published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, before he reached the height of his fame. The first edition appeared in the summer of 1890 in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. It was criticized as scandalous and immoral. Disappointed with its reception, Wilde revised the novel in 1891, adding a preface and six new chapters. The Preface anticipates some of the criticism that might be leveled at the novel and answers critics who charge The Picture of Dorian Gray with being an immoral tale. This attitude was revolutionary in Victorian England, where popular belief held that art was not only a function of morality but also a means of enforcing it. In the Preface, Wilde also cautioned readers against finding meanings “beneath the surface” of art.

Spark Notes (10/10/17)
Extracted from:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doriangray/context.html

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What does it tell us about Wilde's beliefs in Aestheticism?

Aestheticism is concerned with beauty and art. The preface makes reference to the role of the artist (“the creator of beautiful things” and “the critic” [Preface; pp 3]) and the value it is assigned to beauty. Upon analying the preface, I get the impression that the author disapproves of those people who find ugly meanings where there is beauty. To make matters worse, he refers to them as corrupt, as opposed to cultivated or hopeful ones – those who find beautiful things in beauty. Besides, Wilde alludes to art as something that has the sole purpose of communicating beauty.

Furthermore, the Preface gives us a great deal of evidence of two facts: on the one hand, the period England was going through at the time, the Victorian Era,and, on the other hand, the author's philosophy towards art. During the late Victorian Period more precisely, there was a movement referred to as ‘The Aesthetic Movement’ that was particularly concerned with the appreciation of the beautiful. This esthetical view had a great influence on Oscar Wilde’s literary work and we can clearly appreciate his viewpoint from the very beginning – the preface –  and make sense out of it in the light of the movement that took place in England during this time, ‘The Aesthetic Movement’, as aforementioned. This movement focused on art for the sake of art, and on the fact that beauty was the most important element in life. To put it differently, Wilde, through Basil, sought to make people admire a piece of art simply for its beauty, rather than for any other reason, as if art were the most important element in a person’s life.
All in all, the preface highlights the high importance attached to beauty over any other matters, which is, undoubtedly, one of the main issues the author raises in his work.

- DAIANA KIFER -

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What does it tell us about Wilde’s beliefs in Aestheticism? (Acosta Greta)

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What does it tell us about Wilde’s beliefs in Aestheticism? (Acosta Greta)

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The concept of ‘aestheticism’ derives from Greek, it means “perceiving through senses”. When Oscar Wilde published The Picture of Dorian Gray, it was attacked as it proposed a new norm for the aestheticism of 1890s in England. As a reply, Wilde added a preface to the novel based on their ideas about aestheticism. In it, Wilde explains …”the artist is the creator of beautiful things”.. (Wilde,1987,P.3)”People who see ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming and only those who recognize the positive meanings in art are considered cultivated” (Wilde,1987,P. 3). These quotes show that art should be beautiful to the observer without being influenced. People should not search for a specific meaning. Wilde suggests “there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” (Wilde,1987,P.3). Here, he explains that there is not a difference between moral and immoral acts. There is a distinction between the increase and decrease of reader’s happiness. Wilde also emphasizes artist´s role saying “no artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.” (Wilde,1987,P. 3). This refers that it is important to not limit the concept of aestheticism to art. Literature, music and any kind of work that creates pleasure have to be included.

Sources:
http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/163015/aestheticism-in-oscar-wilde-s-the-picture-of-dorian-gray

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What does Oscar Wilde caution us against?

The preface, added in 1891 after a scandalous reception by Wilde, has a notorious explanation of the way he perceived “Art”, he described that Art is beautiful, and it does not need to have a purpose on itself: “The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.” (Wilde, 1891: 1). On the other hand, this idea was revolutionary to Victorian England, where popular belief held that art was not only a function of morality but also a means of enforcing it. (2013) Wilde were trying to caution us against trying to find a meaning to art, to the story. He tried to avoid people looking morality on “the surface”: “Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.” (Wilde, 1891: 1)

Wilde, O (1891) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ireland: Planet Pdf

Spark Notes (2013) [The Picture of Dorian Gray] Extracted from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doriangray/context.html

María Belén Farías.

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What does Oscar Wilde caution us again? (Cintia Toritto) 

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What does Oscar Wilde caution us again? (Cintia Toritto) 

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Oscar WIlde's  preface of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"  is based on the author's ideas as regards art, artist and the Victorian ideals of morality.

The author critics this ideals, stating that  "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."  According to Wilde, the art itself do not make judgments of right or wrong. It is up to the reader to go beyond the surface of a piece of work or not.

In short, in the preface , Oscar Wilde let the reader know that The Picture of Dorian Gray will be a provocative  novel of  controversial ideas.

Sources:
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/critical-essays/oscar-wildes-aesthetics

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/summary-and-analysis/preface

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Read and analyse “The Preface” in The Picture of Dorian Gray and answer the following questions justifying your answers with quotes from the text:

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Read and analyse “The Preface” in The Picture of Dorian Gray and answer the following questions justifying your answers with quotes from the text:

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a)      What is the purpose of the Preface?

b)      What does it tell us about Wilde’s beliefs in Aestheticism?

c)       What does it tell us about the nineteenth century Victorian society?

d)      What does Oscar Wilde caution us against?

e)      Do you think that The Picture of Dorian Gray is a form of “useless art” or does it serve a purpose?