Amazon.com (ISBN 0231101678, Paperback)

Like all great artists, Oscar Wilde - and his work - can encompass a wide variety of meaning and discussion. In The Wilde Century British scholar and critic Alan Sinfield uses "Wilde" as both example and symbol of the changing meanings of "effeminacy" in modern culture.

To a large degree Wilde's "foppishness," seemingly flippant satire, and "art for art's sake" aesthetic has defined both the nature and social attitude of homosexuality for the past 100 years. By examining Wilde's work, as well as a broad range of other topics--from E. M. Forster's and Ronald Firbank's novels to the post-modern theories of Judith Butler and Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick--Sinfield explores how ideas about gender and morality have shaped the very core of how we define art and politics. In Sinfield's impressive, even dazzling analysis, Wilde is both the generator and the touchstone for a contemporary queer sensibility in which creativity, social change, and a clear vision of a better world can become a reality. --Michael Bronski