Oscar Wilde and the Dreyfus Affair; Homosexuality, Antisemitism and Masculinity

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23520334
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Wako University
• Principal Investigator: MIYAZAKI Kasumi 和光大学, 公私立大学の部局等, 教授 (10255200)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: オスカー・ワイルド / ドレフュス事件 / 同性愛 / ソドミー / 性科学 / 変質論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project resulted in the publication of a biography of Oscar Wilde, which, based on new materials, follows the life of Wilde in the context of the social and cultural history of homosexuality and the rise of sexology on the Continent.
Using the recent studies of the history of homosexuality in Britain, the biography revises the Oscar Wilde trial in light of the older concept of sodomy, and disproves Ed Cohen's claim that Wilde's was the first homosexua trial in Britain. It focuses on the degeneration theory adopted by sexologists to explain the cause of homosexuality, whereas Britain did not see the advent of sexology and the new concept of homosexuality before the 1930's. This project also reveals that Wilde contributed to the disclosure of the real culprit of the Dreyfuse affair.

Free Research Field

英文学