Oscar Wilde: The Dandy-Aesthete

Penning his provocative aphorisms, Oscar Wilde set out to shock bourgeois society with his manifesto of a self-confident Aesthete. Perhaps unexpectedly for him, however, longstanding associations with the genre came into play, with readers seeing the aphorisms as stemming from a solid cultural tradition. British humour had long sanctioned light-hearted sarcasm even on the gravest of topics, and the witticisms of high-society eccentrics were accepted as a necessary rhetorical accompaniment to the ceremonial rituals of salon conversation.

Aphorisms concerning fashion, naturally, also possessed their own associations: through George Brummell and his undying fame, they were commonly linked with early nineteenth-century dandyism. In fashionable novels and treatises, large collections of maxims on good taste and the art of dress did not appear out of place. With its laconic form, which suited the dandy principle of minimal energy expenditure, the aphorism was seen as the perfect dandy genre. Wilde, furthermore, contrived to lend dandy aphorisms a new air of conceptual elegance and philosophical paradox. Inspired by the works of Walter Pater and John Ruskin, he attempted to render their ideas on pure art through more accessible expressions, thought-provoking, yet entertaining. Encountering his maxims, even the poorly educated paused to think. The amusing nature of his paradoxes caused readers’ attention to focus, whilst relaxing at the same time.

In any paradox, one encounters a counterpoint, a meeting of conflicting interpretations. As many of Wilde's aphorisms are uttered by his characters, the possibility of multi-layered readings is infinitely multiplied. Creating a deliberate distance between himself and the speaker, Wild plants his paradoxes in ambiguous style.