On the evening of April 17th, an academic lecture on “the Conflict and Fusion of Oscar Wilde’s Aestheticism and Morality” was given by Professor Liu Maosheng from Jiangxi Normal University to teachers and students of School of Foreign Studies.
After a brief introduction to his main researches in recent years, Professor Liu explained in detail the research method of Literary Ethical criticism proposed by Wilde. He further revealed the ethical connotations and internal relations in Wilde’s literary works, and highlighted the relation between arts and ethics, characterized by both conflict and fusion.
As the lecture went on, Liu stressed that Wilde’s works, mingling the form of aestheticism with rich ethical connotations, prove a further deviation fromhis own artistic standpoint. Reinterpreting Wilde’s aestheticism works from an ethical perspective, Liu deemed, made Wilde and his works closer to readers and also greatly broadened the horizon of the research on Wilde.
The lecture ended with a question raised by a student—if Wilde’s attempt to challenge the morality with aestheticism is a reflection of his pessimism. “The aging process makes people realize the finitude of life,” Liu answered, “and also changes Wilde’s view on the world.”
(Translated by Luo Yan, Yu Ling)
