Additional Notes on Wilde and the

Womans World
ER
Dressing for the Occasion: Wildes Journalism, Decadence and Ethical Aestheticism
Introduction to Wildes Journalism
1885-7 Wilde writes more than 70 anonymous reviews for the Pall Mall Gazette
1887 Wilde becomes editor of The Ladys World: A Magazine of Fashion and Society
Chanes the name to The Womans World
!imed to differentiate it from other women"s maa#ines
$oved fashion articles to the bac%
&ften discussed dress reform
Removed the 'ossi(y section which had oriinally o(ened The Ladys World)
*Clayworth+ ,-.
/ntermittently writes (ieces for the maa#ine titled '0iterary and &ther 1otes)
1888-, Wilde"s commitment to The Womans World declines
188, Wilde 2uits writin the maa#ine
18,0 The Picture of Dorian Gray is (ublished in seriali#ed form
Ambivalence in The Womans World: Decadence versus Proto!eminism"
'3nder Wilde"s editorshi(+ The Womans World embodies the tensions between Rus%inian ethical
aesthetics and 4aterian decadence those (ostures of esca(ism es(oused by Wilde"s 0ord 5enry
Wotton and occasionally by Wilde himself) *$alt#+ 1,-.
Decadence (Walter Pater) Ethical Aestheticism (John Ruskin)
Aestheticism Philanthropy
Articles about art Articles about poverty
Articles about art on its own rightArt or
art!s sake
Articles about how art relects e"ternal
conditions
(e"# anthologies o emale poets)Responsibility
o Art
(e"# dresses should not $in%ure& women)
Art or the sake o others
While many of the contributors manae to be both aesthetes and social reformers+ Wilde a((ears
to be more ambivalent about the role of social reform6 &f Wilde"s editorshi( of 7he Woman"s
World+ 8iana $alt# writes+ '$ost interestin+ it seems+ is Wilde"s ambivalent accommodation of
such missionary-aesthetic feelins and (ursuits in his maa#ine6 &n the one hand+ he had brouht
communities of reformers and artists toether in (rint+ intent on transforminThe Womans
World into an inclusive 9ournal of social and artistic issues6 &n the other hand+ Wilde remained
dee(ly sus(icious of the climate of conscience of the 1880s+ its (otential for hy(ocrisy and its
triviali#in art) *$alt#+ :0;.6 8oes the notion of ethical aestheticism a((ear in his later wor%s< &r
in any other decadent author"s wor%s<
=uestions
5ow and why does Wilde"s (roto-feminism affect his aesthetics in the selected (ieces from 7he
Woman"s World+ '7he 5ouse >eautiful) and 'Woman"s 8ress)< 8oes (roto-feminism or
aestheticism seem to ta%e (recedence< What does this mean for his views on art< ?or his relation
to decadence<
/n '7he 5ouse >eautiful+) Wilde arues aainst the corset by claimin that+ when women do not
wear corsets+ 'there is more health+ and conse2uently more beauty) *Wilde+ ,@5.6 /s this
reconcilable with the decadent interest in sic%ness *for instance+ 5uysman"s sy(hilitic flowers.<
&r does this concern for women"s health (revent him from sharin this decadent interest<
What is the 'beauty of effect) Wilde refers to in 'Woman"s 8ress) *Wilde+ ,@;.< /s this effect the
same thin as Wilde"s claim in his discussion of Constance 1aden"s (oems that art is 'a matter of
result<) *Woman"s World+ 81.6 5ow does this inform our understandin of Wilde"s ideas about
art<
5ow do these discussions about ob9ects inform Wilde"s definition of art< /s art here reconcilable
with art as he (resents it elsewhere+ li%e in '7he 8ecay of 0yin<) !nd why<
Why don"t the (roressive discussions of dress reform and other (roressive ideas a((ear in
Wilde"s other wor%s<
Wor#s $ited
Clayworth+ !nya6 'A7he Woman"s World"B &scar Wilde as EditorB 1,,; Canarsdel
4ri#e6) ictorian Periodicals !e"ie#6 -06: *1,,7.B 8@-1016 Web6 1@ 1ov6 :01:6
Dto%es+ Eohn6 'Wilde the Eournalist6) The $am%ridge $om&anion to 'scar Wilde( Ed6 4eter
Raby6 Cambride 3niversity 4ress+ 1,,76 Cambride Collections &nline6 Cambride 3niversity
4ress6 1@ 1ovember :01:6
$alt#+ 8iana6 'Wilde"s The Womans World and !esthetic 4hilanthro(y6) Wilde Writings:
$onte)tual $onditions6 Ed6 Eose(h >ristow6 7orontoB 4ublished by the 3niversity of 7oronto
4ress in !ssociation with the 3C0! Center for Deventeenth-and-Eihteenth-Century Dtudies and
the William !ndrews Clar% $emorial 0ibrary+ :00-6
Wilde+ &scar6 $ollins $om&lete Wor*s of 'scar Wilde6 5
th
ed6 FlasowB 5ar(er Collins+ :00-6
Wilde+ &scar6 The Womans World6 G1ew Hor%IB Dource >oo% 4ress+ 1,706