莫里斯与王尔德

William Morris and Oscar Wilde

上世纪90年代以来的唯美主义研究认为唯美主义具有双重内涵,即为艺术而艺术的精英唯美主义思想和为生活而艺术的生活艺术化。莫里斯作为唯美主义诗人和装饰艺术家分别在唯美主义的双重内涵上对青年王尔德产生了重要的影响,而鼎盛时期王尔德的精英唯美主义思想(即唯美主义的第一重内涵)在很大程度上促进了晚年莫里斯的浪漫传奇创作。两位作家的相关作品以及相关生平信息都指向两者在英国唯美主义运动中存在重要关联,并且莫里斯在这场运动中占有重要地位。

According to Kathy Alexis Psomiades, Aestheticism is associated with two historical narratives, that is, "a narrative about the separation of art from the praxis Of everyday life in bourgeois culture" and "a narrative about the relation between art object and commodity in bourgeois culture." William Morris has an important influence, in these two processes, on Oscar Wilde as a young man, and later on, the more mature Wilde's idea of art for art's sake, as exemplified in The Decay of Lying, inspired Morris to Write up his late prose romances. The specific works and biographical details of these two Victorian writers all point to the strong connections between them in the British Aestheticism and the important position Morris occupies in it.