Giles Whiteley – författare

This is a three-volume collection of primary sources which examines philosophy and literature in nineteenth-century Britain. Accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, this collection will be of great interest to students and scholars of British Literature and Philosophy.

This book presents a philosophical context to show how Oscar Wilde broke from idealism, and challenges recent neo-historicist readings of Wilde which seem content to limit his irruptive power. It reads Wilde through Deleuze and postmodern philosophical commentary on the simulacrum.

This three-volume collection of primary sources examines philosophy and literature in the nineteenth-century Britain. Accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, this collection will be of great interest to students and scholars of British Literature and Philosophy.

Oscar Wilde is more than a name, more than an author. From precocious Oxford undergraduate to cause celebre of the West End of the 1890s, to infamous criminal, the proper name Wilde has become an event in the history of literature and culture. Taking Wilde seriously as a philosopher in his own right, Whiteley''s groundbreaking book places his texts into their philosophical context in order to show how Wilde broke from his peers, and in particular from idealism, and challenges recent neo-historicist readings of Wilde which seem content to limit his irruptive power. Using the paradoxical concept of the simulacrum to resituate Wilde''s work in relation to both his precursors and his contemporaries, Whiteley''s study reads Wilde through Deleuze and postmodern philosophical commentary on the simulacrum. In a series of striking juxtapositions, Whiteley challenges us to rethink both Oscar Wilde''s aesthetics and his philosophy, to take seriously both the man and the mask. His philosophy of masks is revealed to figure a truth of a different kind - the simulacra through which Wilde begins to develop and formulate a mature philosophy that constitutes an ethics of joy.

Oscar Wilde is more than a name, more than an author. From precocious Oxford undergraduate to cause celebre of the West End of the 1890s, to infamous criminal, the proper name Wilde has become an event in the history of literature and culture. Taking Wilde seriously as a philosopher in his own right, Whiteley''s groundbreaking book places his texts into their philosophical context in order to show how Wilde broke from his peers, and in particular from idealism, and challenges recent neo-historicist readings of Wilde which seem content to limit his irruptive power. Using the paradoxical concept of the simulacrum to resituate Wilde''s work in relation to both his precursors and his contemporaries, Whiteley''s study reads Wilde through Deleuze and postmodern philosophical commentary on the simulacrum. In a series of striking juxtapositions, Whiteley challenges us to rethink both Oscar Wilde''s aesthetics and his philosophy, to take seriously both the man and the mask. His philosophy of masks is revealed to figure a truth of a different kind - the simulacra through which Wilde begins to develop and formulate a mature philosophy that constitutes an ethics of joy.

Bringing together leading scholars from the fields of Dickens studies and decadence studies, this collection considers the ways in which Dickens's work can be placed into dialogue with various ideas of decadence. It includes chapters dealing with Dickens's treatment of the decadence he saw manifested in mid-Victorian society; his treatment of the themes of decadence and decay in his work, including anticipations of, and unconscious sympathies towards positions which came to define fin-de-siecle Decadence; and the ways in which Decadent writers from the 1880s 1920s responded to Dickens. This book therefore broadens our understanding of the work and the significance of Dickens as a pre-eminent Victorian novelist and also deepens our understanding of the contours of fin-de-siecle Decadence.

Bringing together leading scholars from the fields of Dickens studies and decadence studies, this collection considers the ways in which Dickens’s work can be placed into dialogue with various ideas of decadence. It includes chapters dealing with Dickens’s treatment of the decadence he saw manifested in mid-Victorian society; his treatment of the themes of decadence and decay in his work, including anticipations of, and unconscious sympathies towards positions which came to define fin-de-siècle Decadence; and the ways in which Decadent writers from the 1880s–1920s responded to Dickens. This book therefore broadens our understanding of the work and the significance of Dickens as a pre-eminent Victorian novelist and also deepens our understanding of the contours of fin-de-siècle Decadence.

Uncovers the link between Ruskin and the tradition of the aesthetics of spaceDiscusses a hitherto under-researched tradition of city-writing, linking Ruskin to modernismReads comparatively five important mid to late nineteenth-century writersMarries close textual analysis with historically and geographically informed contextFills a gap in the critical literature on city-writing between realism and early modernismCharting an ‘aesthetic’, post-realist tradition of writing, this book considers the significant role played by John Ruskin’s art criticism in later writing which dealt with the new kinds of spaces encountered in the nineteenth-century. With chapters devoted to the ways in which aesthetic and decadent writers such as Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde built upon and challenged Ruskin’s ideas, the book links the late Dickens to the early modernism of Henry James. The Aesthetics of Space in Nineteenth-Century British Literature gives a vibrant vision of what an aesthetically sensitive treatment of these spaces looked like during the period.

Charting an 'aesthetic', post-realist tradition of writing, this book considers the significant role played by John Ruskin's art criticism in later writing which dealt with the new kinds of spaces encountered in the nineteenth century. With chapters devoted to the ways in which aesthetic and decadent writers such as Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde built upon and challenged Ruskin's ideas, the book links the late Dickens to the early modernism of Henry James. The Aesthetics of Space in Nineteenth Century British Literature gives a vibrant vision of what an aesthetically sensitive treatment of these spaces looked like during the period.

This book presents a philosophical context to show how Oscar Wilde broke from idealism, and challenges recent neo-historicist readings of Wilde which seem content to limit his irruptive power. It reads Wilde through Deleuze and postmodern philosophical commentary on the simulacrum.

This book examines the various ways in which the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling was read and responded to by British readers and writers during the nineteenth century. Challenging the idea that Schelling’s reception was limited to the Romantics, this book shows the ways in which his thought continued to be engaged with across the whole period. It follows Schelling’s reception both chronologically and conceptually as it developed in a number of different disciplines in British aesthetics, literature, philosophy, science and theology. What emerges is a vibrant new history of the period, showing the important role played by reading and responding to Schelling, either directly or more diffusely, and taking in a vast array of major thinkers during the period. This book, which will be of interest not only to historians of philosophy and the history of ideas, but to all those dealing with Anglo-German reception during the nineteenth century, reveals Schelling to be a kind of uncanny presence underwriting British thought.

This book examines the various ways in which the German philosopher Friedrich Schelling was read and responded to by British readers and writers during the nineteenth century. Challenging the idea that Schelling’s reception was limited to the Romantics, this book shows the ways in which his thought continued to be engaged with across the whole period. It follows Schelling’s reception both chronologically and conceptually as it developed in a number of different disciplines in British aesthetics, literature, philosophy, science and theology. What emerges is a vibrant new history of the period, showing the important role played by reading and responding to Schelling, either directly or more diffusely, and taking in a vast array of major thinkers during the period. This book, which will be of interest not only to historians of philosophy and the history of ideas, but to all those dealing with Anglo-German reception during the nineteenth century, reveals Schelling to be a kind of uncanny presence underwriting British thought.