毕业论文文献综述英语王尔德童话故事中的死亡主题On the Theme of Death in Oscar Wildes Fairy TalesHaving received inspiration from German classical aesthetics and being influenced by Symbolism and Decadence in France, British Aesthetic Movement emerged in the late of 19th century, emphasizing aesthetic values over moral or social themes. It began with the Re-Raphaelite Brother-hoods activities in the late Victorian period, experienced almost half a century and is commonly considered to have faced decline with the trial of Oscar Wilde in 1895. Oscar Wilde, the core figure of British Aesthetic Movement, wrote nine fairy tales to reflect his Aesthetic thought. His fairy tales were different from the traditional Victorian tales, but “took a sharp detour into an aesthetic sensibility.” Almost every tale of him ended with death, which added mystique and attraction to them. Foreign and domestic studies on Oscar Wildes aestheticism 1. Researches done by foreign scholars Since most literary concepts of aestheticism are not original, but are further developed from German classical aesthetics and some of its techniques are derived from French Symbolism and Decadence, it is regarded as a transitional thought from romanticism to modernism by some traditional critics, rather than an independent important genre. Rene Wellek (1965) did not appreciate aestheticism or its out-standing representative Oscar Wilde very much in his A History of Modern Criticism: 1750-1950, instead, he thought that considering Wildes legend endowed him with a special glory, he actually did not deserve the reputation or position he had got in the history of literary criticism based on his literary theory or works. Declan Kiberd (2001) considered Oscar Wilde represented “the resurgence of lying.” For him, “art is neither nature nor a mirror held to nature, but a deliberate improvement on it,” only art can carry out good intentions of nature. 2.Researches done by domestic scholars Some critics pointed out that Wilde is suspected of plagiarism of his teachers theory, however, Zhang Jieming (2005) thought it is difficult to simply judge Wilde for he was such a complicated, brilliant and maverick person. Zhang summed Wildes aesthetic philosophy up into four points: a. Wilde regarded sensitivity as beautiful things. Like he said, “It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors,” Wilde believed that literature always anticipates life and moulds it to its purpose, so the writer could describe things according to his perceptual knowledge rather than the real world. b. Wilde regarded fun as beautiful things. “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written,” in his eyes, ethical sympathies made no sense for an artist, “Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.” c. Wilde regarded imagination as beautiful things, from the perspective of the progress of an artists creation. Out of his disappointment about “uncouth realism and unimaginative imitation” in his time, Wilde spoke highly of imagination during creation to highlight the autonomy of art. d. Wilde regarded innovation of forms as beautiful things. With his words “that form, which is the birth of passion, is also the death of pain” acting as an evidence of his pursuit for form of an artistic work, Wilde showed an extreme favor and took the unity of artistic content and form into serious account, which was later developed as an important result of Modernism. Li Yuan (2008) stated two distinct characters of Wildes aestheticism: his religious-like worship for art and his practice of art in life, in addition, he referred to a concept “dandy” in his research towards Oscar Wilde, as he considered Wilde as a typical representive of “dandy” of aestheticism. To some extent, art provides a high-quality living space for artists, in which they can complete their self-construction to realize themselves. Art was not a simple imitation or an awareness of something for Wilde, but a kind of practice, a way of life, a progress of creating meaningful things and constructing himself. Creating an art world enabled him a sense of belonging and presence. As the core figure in British Aestheticism Movement, Oscar Wilde was more rebellious than his contemporary artists. Despite of the reputation he got in literary and art circles of his era, he was an Irish in English society and a homosexual, being marginalized with an intense sense of identity crisis. Disagreeing with the stereotypes of classical realism, Wilde devoted himself to the new literary genre aestheticism, to display and flaunt his difference from the ordinary as a dandy. Wu Gang (2009) explored Oscar Wildes literary and art theory from two major aspects: his aesthetic view of nature and his aesthetic view of life. When Wilde expressed his opinions about nature, he revealed a trend of idealism to emphasize artists significance in aesthetic a