Oscar Wilde and Nihilism

Oscar Wilde and Nihilism examines Wilde’s major works in the context of nineteenth-century philosophical nihilism and the Victorian religious unsettlement. The book covers Wilde’s plays, the fairy tales, The Picture of Dorian Gray , the critical writings, and De Profundis to show how Wilde’s thinking about nihilism developed over the course of his career, profoundly influencing the tone and message of his work. Like Nietzsche, Wilde came to regard art as the only effective counterforce to the pr