Aestheticism. Origins and Development

Walter Pater and Studies in The History of the Italian Renaissance

• Oscar Wilde
• The dandy
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Preface
• The Preface

Teacher's notes on Aestheticism

The ecstatic moment

Aestheticism

 "To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame,

to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life . . . Not

the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end . . .

For art comes to you professing frankly to give nothing

but the highest quality to your moments as they pass,

and simply for those moments' sake." (Conclusion to Renaissance)

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