Being Wilde
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Minna Nevala
Abstract
This article focuses on the news reporting on Oscar Wilde during the 1895 trials in which he was accused of sodomy and gross indecency. We discuss the positive and negative labelling associated with Wilde during and after the trials. Our data are drawn from the British Library Newspapers, consisting of over 1,500 articles from a variety of both rural and metropolitan British newspapers. Our results demonstrate that during the course of the trials, the reference to Wilde shows not only variation, but also change: his public persona changes from a well-known author to an accused criminal.
Abstract
This article focuses on the news reporting on Oscar Wilde during the 1895 trials in which he was accused of sodomy and gross indecency. We discuss the positive and negative labelling associated with Wilde during and after the trials. Our data are drawn from the British Library Newspapers, consisting of over 1,500 articles from a variety of both rural and metropolitan British newspapers. Our results demonstrate that during the course of the trials, the reference to Wilde shows not only variation, but also change: his public persona changes from a well-known author to an accused criminal.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- “A received pronunciation” 21
- The interplay of internal and external factors in varieties of English 43
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Part II. Morphosyntax
- The myth of American English gotten as a historical retention 67
- Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English 91
- Diffusion of do 117
- A diachronic constructional analysis of locative alternation in English, with particular attention to load and spray 143
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Part III. Orthography, vocabulary and semantics
- In search of “the lexicographic stamp” 167
- “Divided by a common language”? 185
- Women writers in the 18th century 203
- Eighteenth-century French cuisine terms and their semantic integration in English 219
- Spelling normalisation of Late Modern English 243
-
Part IV. Pragmatics and discourse
- A far from simple matter revisited 271
- What it means to describe speech 295
- Being Wilde 315
- “I am desired (…) to desire” 333
- Index 357
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- “A received pronunciation” 21
- The interplay of internal and external factors in varieties of English 43
-
Part II. Morphosyntax
- The myth of American English gotten as a historical retention 67
- Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English 91
- Diffusion of do 117
- A diachronic constructional analysis of locative alternation in English, with particular attention to load and spray 143
-
Part III. Orthography, vocabulary and semantics
- In search of “the lexicographic stamp” 167
- “Divided by a common language”? 185
- Women writers in the 18th century 203
- Eighteenth-century French cuisine terms and their semantic integration in English 219
- Spelling normalisation of Late Modern English 243
-
Part IV. Pragmatics and discourse
- A far from simple matter revisited 271
- What it means to describe speech 295
- Being Wilde 315
- “I am desired (…) to desire” 333
- Index 357
