Wilde in the Dream Factory: Decadence and the American Movies by Kate Hext Hardc

Description: Wilde in the Dream Factory by Kate Hext Wilde in the Dream Factory studies the influence of Oscar Wildes work on American cinema and culture, with close readings of Wildes works alongside screwball comedies and film noir of the 1930s and 40s. FORMAT Hardcover CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Hollywood is haunted by the ghost of playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde. This is the story of his haunting, told for the first time. Set within the rich evolving context of how the American entertainment industry became cinema, and how cinema become the movies, it reveals how Wilde helped to shape Hollywood in the early twentieth century. It begins with his 1882 American tour, and traces the ongoing popularity of his plays and novel in theearly twentieth century, after his ignominious death. Following the early filmmakers, writers and actors as they headed West in the Hollywood boom, it uncovers how and why they took Wildes spirit withthem. There, in Hollywood, in the early days of silent cinema, Wildes works were adapted. They were also beginning to define a new kind of style -- a Wilde-ish spirit, as Ernst Lubitsch called it -- filtering into the imaginations of Lubitsch himself, as well as Alla Nazimova, Ben Hecht, Samuel Hoffenstein and many others. These were the people who translated Wildes queer playfulness into the creation of screwball comedies, gangster movies, B-movie horrors, and films noir. There, Wilde andhis style embodied a spirit of rebellion and naughtiness, providing a blue-print for the charismatic cinematic criminal and screwball talk onscreen.Discussing films includingBringing Up Baby, Underworld, and Laura, alongside definitive adaptations of Wildes works, including, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Lady Windermeres Fan, and Salome, Wilde in the Dream Factory revises how we understand both Wildes afterlife and cinemas beginnings. Author Biography She is author of Walter Pater: Individualism and Aesthetic Philosophy (2013), and co-editor of Decadence in the Age of Modernism (2019). Table of Contents List of FiguresPreface: The Ghosts of Wildean Decadence1: Wilde in the American Imagination2: Naughty, Decadent, Silent Moving Pictures3: Salome on Sunset Boulevard4: Wilde-ish Spirit Goes West5: The Gangster as Aesthete6: A Wildean Universe: From Epigrams to Screwball Talk7: The Aesthete as MonsterOscar Wilde, Hollywood Rebel: ConclusionSelect Works CitedSelected FilmographyIndexAcknowledgements Review A fairly audacious thesis with a staggeringly broad sweep...[A] stimulating and readable study * Keith Hopper, Times Literary Supplement *Brilliant ! A wide-ranging excavation of Wildes overlooked presence in early American cinema, from the first silent movies through to the gangster narratives, screwball comedies, and film noirs of the 1930s and 1940s, written with all the verve and sparkle of a Wildean aphorism. If Wildes effects on early cinema were not always frankly acknowledged, Hext shows they were nonetheless profound. Leading figures of the period - Alla Nazimova, Ernst Lubitsch, Ben Hecht, Mae West, Greta Garbo, Edward G. Robinson, Alfred Hitchcock - appear here in a new and utterly fascinating light. This is a major contribution to film studies, as well as to understanding of American cultural history and Wildeâs legacy in popular culture. * Nicholas Frankel, author of Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years and The Invention of Oscar Wilde *In this original, impressively researched, charmingly written study of Oscar Wildes influence on American culture and movies, Kate Hext reveals many surprising branches of aestheticism and decadence. Ranging from Nazimova to Bogart and beyond, she demonstrates that despite Puritanism and the Production Code, classic Hollywood made Oscar sexy and fun, not just a statuette. * James Naremore, author of The Magic World of Orson Welles, Acting in the Cinema, and More than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts *Oscar goes to Hollywood in Kate Hexts outrageously witty projection of Wildes posthumous career in La-La Land. A brilliantly researched and beautifully written book which proves that the early cinema was far queerer than we might have assumed. * Philip Hoare, Author of Wildes Last Stand *Kate Hext takes us on a Wilde ride through the first few decades of the American film industry thats as insightful and illuminating as it is good plain fun. * Nora Gilbert, Author of Better Left Unsaid: Victorian Novels, Hays Code Films, and the Benefits of Censorship *Hext is a subtle, observant, lively and persuasive writer. She knows her stuff and never takes it too solemnly. Her book is a winner. * Richard Davenport-Hines, The Spectator *Hext is a subtle, observant, lively and persuasive writer. She knows her stuff and never takes it too solemnly. Her book is a winner. * Richard Davenport-Hines, The Spectator *[Hexts] range of reference is impressive...[a] staggeringly broad sweep...[a] stimulating and readable study... * Keith Hopper, TLS * Details ISBN0198875371 Author Kate Hext Publisher Oxford University Press Year 2024 ISBN-13 9780198875376 Format Hardcover Imprint Oxford University Press Subtitle Decadence and the American Movies Place of Publication Oxford Country of Publication United Kingdom ISBN-10 0198875371 AU Release Date 2024-05-22 Audience Professional & Vocational Publication Date 2024-03-28 UK Release Date 2024-03-28 Pages 288 DEWEY 828.809 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. 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