Today we’re going to discover this brilliant Irish 😉 writer Oscar Wilde; when in 1882 he arrived in the U.S.A. in New York, at Custom Controls he said “I have nothing to declare but my genius”.
STEP 1) Watch these 2 videos on his Biography & take down some notes – in Google doc or your notebook. Read his biography in your textbook page 185 and integrate that text with the new info you got in the video.
STEP 2) As regards his life and his relationship with A.Bosie that ended up with him being arrested and sentenced to two years’ hard labour (lavori forzati) watch the scene of Wilde’s famous monologue on “love that dare not speak its name” during the trial, taken from the movie Wilde (1997) starring Stephen Frye.
“The Love that dare not speak its name in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare. It is that deep, spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates and pervades great works of art like those of Shakespeare and Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be described as the “Love that dare not speak its name,” and on account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an elder and a younger man, when the elder man has intellect, and the younger man has all the joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world does not understand. The world mocks at it and sometimes puts one in the pillory (alla gogna) for it.”
The following video shows the actor Ruper Everett visiting his house in Merrion Square.
STEP 3) The third video is a collection of some of his famous aphorisms. Choose the one you like best. Tell the rest of the class why you like it.
You have already read his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray as your summer set-book. Now check the video “10 things you should know about The Picture of Dorian Gray” and take down 10 notes you’ll report in class. Were you familiar with all the information?
Watch three different trailer versions of the movie and choose the one you like best motivating your choice by comparing it to the novel you’ve read. Then you’ll report in class.
1945 Adaptation: Directed by Albert Lewin; screenplay by Albert Lewin.
2004 adaptation Directed by David Rosenbaum; screenplay by David Rosenbaum. Starring Josh Duhamel as Dorian Gray.
2009 adaptation Directed by Oliver Parker; screenplay by Toby Finlay. Starring Ben Barnes as Dorian Gray; Ben Chaplin as Basil Hallward; Colin Firth as Henry Wotton.
I’m also adding an interesting article from The Guardian about his last work “De Profundis”; De Profundis as one of the greatest love letters ever written. Read it.
FINAL DIGITAL TASK OF MODULE: Choose one among the 4. Then paste link into the Padlet below. DEADLINE: BY NOVEMBER 4th. This task is Optional but gives extra-credit according to the complexity of product.
1) A false FACEBOOK page or TWEET of Oscar Wilde or of a character from The Picture of Dorian Gray.
2) A video trailer of the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (for the video-making lovers) 3) A Google site or Adobe SparkPage of 5 websites that O.Wilde would have liked. 4) An audio interview to Dorian Gray using the app Spreaker ( in 2 or 3)
For Fake Tweets or FaceBook use this site http://www.prankmenot.com Here’s my VideoTutorial