Subjectivity and the “Shocking”: Walter Pater:

Oscar Wilde and Ethical Limits of Pleasure

Authors

  • Ashmita Mukherjee

Keywords:

Aesthetics, Ethics, Pater, Wilde, Shocking, Surveillance, Foucault, Epicureanism

Abstract

 

The article analyzes the “shocking” and so-called “immoral” as a response to the institution-imposed methods of surveillance. This leads to the initiation of discourses over behaviour or actions which may not be unethical but which may be questionable in terms of social propriety. Moreover, the “shocking” may be seen as persistent attempts at the formulation of subjectivity -the “performative self.” These ideas are analyzed with reference to Foucault's perspective on the issues and briefly in the context of the late Victorian Aesthete culture spearheaded by Walter Pater and later, Oscar Wilde, the quintessential “dandy.” Their texts Marius the Epicurean and The Picture of Dorian Gray are read with the question of ethics and hedonism in mind, also relating the same to their fascination with classical Epicureanism.

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Author Biography

Ashmita Mukherjee

Ashmita Mukherjee is pursuing her MPhil in English Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She is presently working on the influence of transcendental idealism on the late Victorian aesthetic writings of Vernon Lee. Her academic interests include theories of self-formation, Romanticism, Visual arts and alternative media.

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Published

2021-10-28

How to Cite

Mukherjee, A. (2021). Subjectivity and the “Shocking”: Walter Pater:: Oscar Wilde and Ethical Limits of Pleasure. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 2(2), 53–76. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/51