Being Wilde
Social representation of the public image of Oscar
Wilde
This article focuses on the news reporting on
Oscar Wilde during the 1895 trials in which he was accused of sodomy
and gross indecency. We discuss the positive and negative labelling
associated with Wilde during and after the trials. Our data are
drawn from the British Library Newspapers,
consisting of over 1,500 articles from a variety of both rural and
metropolitan British newspapers. Our results demonstrate that during
the course of the trials, the reference to Wilde shows not only
variation, but also change: his public persona changes from a
well-known author to an accused criminal.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Social representation and labelling
- 3.The trials of Oscar Wilde
- 4.Data and methods
- 4.1Length of news items
- 4.2Content of news items
- 5.The representation of Oscar Wilde
- 5.1Previous studies on Wilde in the press home and
abroad
- 5.2Labelling in the British press
- 6.Concluding remarks
-
Notes
-
References
-
Appendix
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Cited by 1 other publications
Limatius, Hanna & Minna Nevala
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