Imagining of Literature

The book regarded as a window towards other worlds is a commonly used and long-time repeated cliché in all literary and cultural contexts. But it was Richley Crapo’s words that the most distinctive feature separating humanity from animals is the ability to create symbols, to change meanings again and again. And Robert Harrison continues: “language is the ultimate place of human habitation… logos is that which opens the human abode on the earth”. Just with its publishing in July 1890 Wilde’s book provoked diametrically different reactions. On one hand was the uncensored portrait of the hypocrisy of Victorian aristocracy that gave rise to the negative evaluations the novel received. On the other hand is the time evaluation that proves that “The picture…” is manifesto of Wilde as an author. Apology of the Beauty, the author as a messiah, the miracle of creation, the unique esthetic way of writing – all of this earned “The picture…” a place at the pantheon of the Canon. A book heading is ...