Phantom Puppet: The Insoluble Conundrum of Art in The Portrait of Mr. W. H.

In Oscar Wilde's aesthetic principles, criticism plays an essential role in the development of art. He elaborates on this idea via various literary forms and The Portrait of Mr. W. H. is one of such endeavors. In this novella, Wilde employs literary speculation as the focal point of the whole story, in which three Victorian gentlemen are deeply intrigued by the possible identity of ＂Fair Youth＂ in Shakespeare's Sonnets, whom they believe to be a beautiful and versatile Elizabethan boy actor. The construction of the plot and the characters' reflections reiterate Wilde's key conceptions on aesthetics, such as his emphasis on form over content, the importance of self-stylization and insincerity as a major component in the making of art. Although the story begins at a literary theory, it gradually extends to the question of what the nature of art is. In the treatment of this work, Wilde deliberately separates aesthetic experience from the field of science, reason and positivist way of viewing the world. In doing so, art is conceived as an insoluble enigma which triggers multiple interpretations and new artistic expression. This insight heralds the future development of the philosophy of art in the 20th century.

關鍵字

Oscar Wilde ； The Portrait of Mr. W. H. ； literary criticism ； self-expression ； enigmaticalness

並列摘要

在英國唯美主義作家奧斯卡．王爾德的美學觀念中，批評活動被視為藝術創作中必需的元素。他以多種文體形式表現批評的重要，而中篇小說《W. H.先生的畫像》便是基於這一觀念而構思的作品。小說以三位維多利亞時期的文藝愛好者試圖解開莎士比亞十四行詩中的美麗青年的真實身份之謎作為敘事前提，敘事結構和人物的思考無不反映著王爾德的美學主張，例如形式優先於內容，個人風格的重要性，以及謊言為藝術之核心等。這部基於批評展開的故事也探討了藝術的本質問題，試圖將之與科學、理性和實證主義畫出界線，將「不可解」作為藝術的本質和生命力所在。這某種程度上預測了後世美學理論的發展方向。