I am not English. I am Irish which is quite another thing: Reconsidering Wilde’s Irishness

Abstract

Even though O. Wilde's Irishness is difficult to trace, there is a profound sense of Irishness underlying his life and much of what he wrote and thought, especially in his correspondence. In my paper, I evaluate the role of Irishness within his life and work in order to assess how it shapes and influences his own thinking and writing. Perhaps considered as one facet of his all-interesting multifarious doubleness, still, it occupies a specific role within reception studies and explains why there has always been a strong interest towards his life and work among his fellow countrymen.