"The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke Screen"

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1/32

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The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke ScreenAuthor(s): Curtis MarezSource: ELH, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Spring, 1997), pp. 257-287Published by: Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30030253Accessed: 20-02-2016 16:18 UTC

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2/32

THE OTHER ADDICT: REFLECTIONS ON

COLONIALISM

AND

OSCAR

WILDE'S OPIUM

SMOKE SCREEN

BY

CURTIS

MAREZ

Between

wo

of

the

windows

tood a

large

Florentine

abinet,

made out

of

ebony,

nd inlaid

with

ivory

nd blue

lapis.

He

watched

t as

though

t

were

thing

hat ould fascinate nd

make

afraid,

s

though

t held

something

hathe

longed

for nd

yet

almost

oathed.

His breath

quickened.

A mad

craving

ame

over

him.

...

At

ast

he

got up

from

he

sofa on whichhe

had

been

lying,

ent

ver o

t,

nd,

having

nlocked

t,

ouched

ome

hidden

pring. triangular

rawer

passed slowly

ut. His

fingers

moved

instinctively

owards

t,

dipped

n,

and

closed on

some-

thing.

t

was a

small

Chinesebox

of

black nd

gold-dustacquer,

elaborately rought,

he

sides

patterned

ith

urved

waves,

nd

the

silken

ords

hung

with

ound

rystals

nd tassalled n

plaited

metal hreads.

He

opened

t. Inside was a

greenpaste,waxy

n

lustre,he odorcuriously eavy ndpersistent.'

In

this scene

from

The

Picture

of

Dorian

Gray,

the

novel's

hero

anxiously

unlocks

an

ornate cabinet

which

holds a secret

stash

of

Chinese-boxed

opium.

The

cabinet-or

closet,

f

you

will-of

Dorian

Gray

seems to

support

Eve

Kosofsky Sedgwick's

claim in

"Wilde,

Nietzsche,

and

the

Sentimental Relations

of

the Male

Body,"

that

Dorian

Gray represents

a

"gay-affirming

and

gay-occluding

orientalism."2

oth

here

and

in her

essay

on

Dickens's

The

Mystery

of Edwin Drood, Sedgwick argues that literarydepictions of drug

addiction often function as displacements

for the "secret

vice" of

homosexuality.3 lthough

find

this

reading partially ersuasive,

the

sequel

to the above scene

significantlyomplicates

t.

While

Dorian's

"closet"

is

already

well

stocked

with

the

drug,

he

nonetheless

ocks

it

up again

and

departs

for

he

opium

dens

on

the

quays

of

East

London.

The

craving

for

opium impels

a movement

from

the

fastness

of

Dorian's

home

to

the

edge

of

the

city-and by

extension,

he

island

nation-where

England opens

out

onto scenes

of

threatening

acial

othernesss. Like Dorian, then,the meaningsof druguse are migra-

tory. edgwick's

ccount

prematurely

tabilizes

such

migrations,

more

or

less

subordinating

the

multiple significations

of

opium

to

an

ELH

64 (1997)257-287c 1997by

The

Johns

Hopkins niversity

ress

257

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3/32

"epistemology

f

the

closet."

While

assume

s a

given

hat

n

Dorian

Gray

addiction

ignifies omosexuality,

n

what

follows

claim

that

for

many

ate-Victorians

opium

was

simultaneously

acialized

nd

racializing.utanotherway, y focusingnopium willargue hat

while

racial

nd

sexual

ategories

an

overlap,

ace

was an

indepen-

dent,

relatively

utonomous

structuringrincipal

n

Wilde's

work

and

the

culture(s)

he

inhabited.4

We will

want

o

keep

n

mind,

or

xample,

hat

Wilde's

osition

s

an

Anglo-Irish

olonial

subject

was,

in

various

ways,

a

racialized

one.5

As

I will

show,

Wilde

dentified

ith

he

British

mpire and

against

his

stigmatized

Irish"

status.

n

order

to

transcend

his

position,

Wilde

constructedn

"Aesthetic

mpire"

which

he

hoped

could mediatebetweenEnglandand Ireland.Wilde aestheticized

the

Union

by theorizing distinctly uropean

artistic

radition

o

which

he

was a

privileged

eir.

He

thus

ttempted

o

transform

he

in-between

tatusof

the

Anglo-Irish

olonial

middle

class

into

a

position

of

strength.

or

these

reasons,Joyce's

Wildean

"cracked

looking-glass

f

a

servant"

ecomes

an

apt symbol

or

n

art

which

reflects

oth

he

fissuresn

colonial

subjectivity

nd

the

sutures

hat

join

the

colonized

o

the

colonial

power.6

At

its

most

expansive,

Wilde's

model

of

the

Union

extended

beyond

Britain o includemuchof Western

Europe:

Wilde

sub-

sumed

both

England

and

Ireland

within

European

culture

which

he

defined

against

he

cultures f

non-European eoples,especially

those

of

the

southern

hemisphere.

Wilde in

effect

ustained

his

identification

ith

the

British

Union

and

European

culture

by

racializing

rnamental

therness

s

a

subsidiarydjunct

o an

Aes-

thetic

Empire.Beginning

n

the

1880s,

Wilde

ttempted

o

cultivate

in

his

audiences an

abstract,

econtextualizing

aste for

forms f

non-Western

rt.

f

Wilde

hopedthathisowntastefor uchobjectscouldserve oconsolidate

cultured,

ritish

nd

European ense of

self,

however,

is

American

nd

English

detractors

ultimately

ol-

lapsed

the

hierarchical

istinction

etween

ultured

ubject

nd

non-

Western

object, uggesting

hat s

an

Irishman

Wilde

was

as

primi-

tive s

the

exotic

objects

he

celebrated.

Wilde's

udiences,

n

other

words,

ggressively

e-racialized im.

This

response

o

Wilde's

mim-

ing

of

racializingmperial deology

hus

ndexes

he

distancing

nd

denaturalizing

ffects f

a

colonial

repetition

with

a

difference.'

Wilde'smimicryf empirecreates a legitimacyrisis n colonial

representation,alling

nto

question

who

may

r

may

not

reproduce

imperial

acializations.

Turning inally

o

The

Picture

f

Dorian

Gray,

258

Colonialism

nd

Wilde's

Opium

Smoke

creen





4/32

I

argue

that he

novel's

uxtaposition

f

non-Western

rtand

opium

allowsWilde to restage ust

such

questions

f racial

representation.

Dorian

Gray

narrates,

n

my

ccount,

ne

of

the

constitutive

ontra-

dictions ffin-de-sikcleritish olonization. n the one hand,the

Empire

disseminates

mperial deologies

n

Ireland,

thus

making

possible

the

appropriation

f

such

ideologiesby

Wilde and

other

colonial

ubjects.

On

the

other

hand,

nsofar s the

Empire

rests

n

the

absolute

acialdifference

f

colonizer

nd

colonized,

t

simulta-

neously

ans

the

ideological

raffic

etween he

two.

WILDE

AND THE

CONTRADICTIONS

OF

COLONIAL

IDENTITY

Wilde's

ommitment

o a

British

mpire

of

Art

would

appear,

t

first lance,to be at oddswithhis Irishness.How did the sonof

Anglo-Irish ationalists

ome to

speak

for

and

through

British

authority?

o

answer

his

uestion,

will

considerWilde's

ontradic-

tory

ense

of

his

racial

nd

national

identity

s a

response

o

debates

concerning

rish

home

rule.The

participants

n thisdebate

ncluded

Anglo-Irish

ationalists

like

Wilde's

arents),

rish rotestant

nion-

ists,

nd

English

iberals.

In

1880,

Charles tewart

arnell,

n

Anglo-Irishman,

ssumed

he

leadership ftheIrishParliamentaryarty ndbegan workingor

home

rule.

Such

a

prospect utragedmany

rish

Protestants,

ar-

ticularly

n

Ulster,

where

"King

nd

Union"

erved

s a

rallyingry.

Meanwhile,

n

England,

Gladstone

was

leading

n

abortive

ffort

o

grant

reland

home

rule

while

imultaneously aintaining

he

union

of the

British

mpire,

albeit

n

a

modified

orm.

n

response

o

Unionist

objections,

Gladstone

nd

his

followers

ffered

new

modelof

Britishness:

ne

that

onceived

f

the

United

Kingdom

s a

multinational

tate"

ontaining

ithin

ts

borders

istinct

yet

related

historic ationswith heir wn traditionsnd identities.8hisnew

model nonetheless resumed

hat

England

would

remain

he

prime

shaper

of

the

unified

ation's

uture.

Gladstone's

nderstanding

f

home rule

served to

reconcile

"imperialunity

with

diversity

f

legislation."

uch

a

reconciliation

uaranteed,

n

Gladstone's

words,

that

the

"supreme tatutoryuthority

f the

imperialparliament

remained

unimpaired."9imilarly,lthough

MatthewArnold

was

quick

o

condemn

nglish njustice,

e

maintained

hat he

rish

must

blend nto

n

Empire

whichwas

ultimately

uledfrom

ngland.'o

Despite thecleardifferenceetweenLiberalandUnionist-one

for,

he

other

gainst,

ome

rule-the

two shared common

om-

mitmento

the

bstract

piritual nity

f

Empire.

Bothwerecritical,

Curtis

Marez

259





5/32

although

n

different

ays,

f the

present nglish arliament

nd

ts

rule

of

reland;yet

both

pledged

their

llegiance

o an

ideal

British

Empire

which

transcended he

limits

f its current

arliamentary

instantiation. nlikeEnglishLiberals,however,many rishProtes-

tant

Unionists

ctually

ived

n

Ireland.

As obvious

s this

onclusion

sounds,

t

nonetheless as

profound mplications.

ladstone's

on-

version o the

home

rule

camp

intensified

he

strain

many

rish

Protestantselt

etween,

n the one

hand,

heir

oyalty

o and

sense

of

inclusion

within

n

abstract

nglishmajority,

nd,

on the

other

hand,

the

sense

that

Liberals

were

deserting nglo-Irish ubjects

and

cementing

heir

tatus s

minorities

ithin reland.

The

events

of

the

1880s

thus

ntensified

he

split

n an

already

divided

Anglo-

Irish dentity.his colonialclass felt tself o be bothEnglish nd

Irish-loyal

to

the

British

mpire yet simultaneouslyroud

of

its

Irishheritage."

The

minority/majority

ontradictions

aced

by many

rish

Protes-

tant

Unionists lso

nformed

he

thinking

f

Anglo-Irish

ationalists,

like

Wilde's

parents.

akenas a

whole,

he

Anglo-Irish rofessional

middle

class to

which

the

Wildes

belongedwas,

as

David

Lloyd

writes,

deracinated

ith

egard

o

rural nd

Gaelic

reland nd

only

awkwardly

ecentered

ith

regard

o

the

Empire,

n whose

political

powerthey

re

socially, conomically,

ndoften

culturally arasitic

but

fromwhose

center

they

re

nonetheless

excluded."12

While

the

Anglo-Irishartially

dentified

hemselves

ith

he

colonizingmajor-

ity, hey

emained

distinct

yetpowerfulminority

ithin

he

colony.

The

strains

aused

by

the

Anglo-Irish

middle

class's

awkward

position

etween

olonizer

nd

colonized

helps explain

what

Lloyd

calls

the

"curious

ormal

oherence

etween

nationalist

nd

unionist

thinking.... Quite

as

much

s

the

unionists,

he

middle-class

oung

Irelandersacked, n consequenceof thehistoricalonditions or

their

existence,

ny 'organic'

connections

(to

borrow

Gramsci's

formulation)

ith

he

people

in

whose

name

they

laimed o

speak.

In

consequence,

both

parties

invoke

an

alternative

oncept

of

organicism

hat

ewrites

ctual

discontinuity

s

merely

moment

n

the

continuouslyvolving

arrative

f

the

Empire

or

the

nation."'3

Since the Anglo-Irish

middle

class-both

Unionists

nd

National-

ists-occupied structurally

imilar

positions

within

reland,

t is not

surprising

hat

they

hould

lso

develop

notions

f

nation

nd

empire

thatwereformallynalogous.While theunique position f the in-

de-siecle

Anglo-Irish

iddle

lasses

may

have

ed a

young

Yeats,

or

example,

o

pursue

an

aesthetic

ision

of

the

Irish

national

pirit,

260

Colonialism

nd

Wilde's

Opium

Smoke

creen





6/32

these

same conditions

prompted

Wilde

to

urgently

laim

England's

Aesthetic

Empire

for

his

birthright.'4

As

an

Anglo-Irishman,

ilde

began

ife

with

split dentity

nd he

attemptedoresolve his ontradictionby making nglish etters is

conquest

and hence

the

source

of

his

status.

According

o Richard

Pine,

Wilde

"came from

milieu

which,

while

t

did not

formally

encourage ccentricity,ertainly

ondoned

t and

had

drawn

more

flexibleboundaries

han

those

prevailing

n

England."'5

As

one

classmate

remembered,

his

formative

amiliarity

ith

the

Anglo-

Irish

professional

middle lass had

as

its

corollary corresponding

alienation rom

he Englishpublic

school

ystem.'16Wilde'sexperi-

ences

at Portora

Royal

School near

Enniskillen,

o.

Fermanagh,

could not

possibly

ave

prepared

imforhis encounter ith heso-

called

old

boy

network

t

Oxford.

Portora

may

have

aspired

to

English public

school status

but its slogan-"The

Irish

Eton"-

graphically

marked

ts

difference

rom

English

nstitutions.

ilde's

origin

n

the

professional

iddle

lass

and his

subsequent

movement

from

he

"Celticfringe"

o thecore of

English ulture

t Oxford hus

describe he arc

of

a

trajectory

rom

he

deological reconditions

f

Nationalism

o those

of

Empire-from opposition o

assimilation.

Because IrishWilde toodout ike a soregreen humb tOxford,e

took

greatpains

o

replace

his

colonial

ccent

with

crisp English"

one.'7 Moreover,

he

migration

o Oxford nd the London art

cene

constituted

flight

rom rishnational

olitics:

I

live

n London

for

its

artistic

ife and

opportunities.

here is

no

lack

of

culture

n

Ireland

but

t

s

nearly

ll

absorbed n

politics.

Had I

remained here

my

areer

would

have

been

a

political ne."'8

But

given

he

formal

coherence

between

Anglo-Irish

ationalism

nd

Liberal

Unionism,

Wilde's

movement

rom rish

politics to English art requireda

relativelyhort tep, nabling imto identify ith BritishEmpire

representedprimarily y

an

English

aesthetic

tradition.

Like

Gladstone's

reconceptualization

f

Britishness,

Wilde's notion

of

Aesthetic

mpire heoretically

bsorbed reland

s an

equal partner

yetpractically

ubordinatedt to

English uthority.'

Though

Wilde

was

initially

onfident

hat

he could

perfect

cultural-racialradition

embracing

oth

nations,

arious

events

n

the

1880s

and

1890s

raised

erious

questions oncerning

he

British

Empire's bility

o

absorb

reland.

The

members

f Parnell's rish

Parliamentaryarty nd, more spectacularly,he Fenians, oudly

denounced he

moral

nd

political dequacy

of

the

Union.

One

of

the

firstasualties fFenian

gitation

as LordFrederick

avendish,

Curtis

Marez 261





7/32

a onetime

dinner

guest

of

the Wildes

n Merrion

quare,

who was

kidnapped

nd murdered

n

Dublin'sPhoenix ark n 6 May 1882 by

a

group

known

s "The

Invincibles."

Shortly

hereafter,

n American

reporterolicitedWilde'sviewofthematter.Strikingcharacteristi-

cally quivocalpose,

Wilde

first

nswered: When

liberty

omes

with

handsdabbled

n

blood t s hard o shakehands

with

her,"

ut

then

added:

"We

forget

owmuch

England

s

to

blame.She is

reaping

he

fruit

f seven

centuries

f

njustice."2" ilde here

criticizes

nglish

injustice

but

only

after

he

has

denounced

the violentefforts

by

oppressedmobs

to

redress he wrongs

f

Empire.

From

one

vantagepoint,

Wilde's

criticism f Fenian methods

represents principled

tance

against

violence. Wilde

did

not,

however, istinguishetween errorismndotherforms fpopular

political

ction.

Throughout

is

career,

Wilde described lmost

ll

acts

of

popular

esistance s forms

f terrorism.or

example,

n

the

poem

"Libertatis acra

Fames"(1880),

a sonnet

which

he claimed

represented

is

political reed,

Wilde

wrote:

Better

herule

f

One,

whom ll

obey,

Than

o et lamorous

emagoguesetray

Ourfreedom

ith

he

kiss f

narchy.

Whereforelove hem otwhosehands rofane

Plant he ed

lag pon

he

iled-up

treet

For

no

right ause,

beneathwhose

gnoranteign

Arts, ulture, everence, onor,

ll

things

ade

Save

Treason

nd

the

dagger

fher

rade,

And

Murder,

ith is ilent

loody

eet.

CW,

15)21

While

Wilde

was

in

some sense

an Irish

Nationalist,

e was

also

deeply

invested

n

a

tradition

f

liberty

nd

gloriously

loodless

revolution hich

he associated

with

he

constitutionalradition f

theBritish mpire; hisdoubleposition llowedhim o criticize he

current

tate

of

English

rule

in

Ireland

while

maintaining

is

devotion

o a

uniquely

British

heritage ncapsulated

n

a

canon

of

beauty.

To

return o

the

sonnet,

the

rule

of

One,

whom

ll

obey"

remains referableo popular anarchy":

ilde's utonomous

manof

culture-the One"whomust

ule--dictates

ocial

order. he

masses,

Wilde

contends,

houldnot

allow

traitorous

demagogues"

o

repre-

sent

them,

ut

must nstead

ook

to the

artist.

As he

argues

n

"The

Soul

of Man

Under

Socialism,"

all

Humanity ains partial

ealiza-

tion" n the artistCW, 1095). Onlywhena societys anchoredby

men

of

culture

an

a stable

heritage-"Arts, ulture,Reverence,

Honor"-remain afe

from

Treason"

nd

"Murder."

lthough

Wilde

262

Colonialism nd Wilde'sOpium Smoke

creen





8/32

at times

disapproved

f

the current

nstantiations

f

the

Empire,

his

alternative-an

Aesthetic

mpire,

r

British

inheritance"

hich

he

artist

must

reclaim

nd

perpetuate-remained imperial."

s

Wilde

explainsnthepoem "Theoretikos"(1881),he artistanonly evital-

ize

this

nheritance

hen

"standing part"

from

the rude

people

(who) rage

with

gnorant

ries /

Against

n

heritage

f

centuries."

Wilde

implicitlyrgues

that the artist's

utonomy-his eparation

from

he

"rude"

masses-can

provide

new

support

for

a

"mighty

empire"

which

had

of

ate

developed

feet

f

clay" CW, 716).

Thismodel f

Empire

llowed

im

o

resolve,

n an

aesthetic

lane,

the

political

differences

etween

England and

Ireland. "National

hatreds

re

always trongest,"

Wilde

told an

American

udience,

"where ulture s owest."How,wemightsk, anculture educe he

hatred

between

English nd

Irish?

Wilde's

paradoxical

nswer

was

that he

dominance

f

English

rt

was

the

only asting

lternative

o

imperial

onflict:

We

in our

Renaissance re

seeking

o create a

sovereignty

hat hall

till

e

England's

whenher

yellow eopards

re

weary

f

wars,

nd the rose

on her

shield s

crimsoned o more

with

the blood

of

battle.""22

s

already

noted,

Wilde

concluded

that

an

Empire

of

"Arts, ulture,Reverence,

Honor"

was

England's

best

protection gainstthe "kiss of anarchy."n responseto Fenian

bombings

nd

murders,

Wilde

imagined

rt as a

form f

counter-

revolution. ere Wilde followedArnold

who,

n his

essay

"On the

Study

f

Celtic

Literature,"

oncluded

hat

he

nstitutionalized

study

of Celtic artwould erve o protect ngland

from enianterrorism.

Wilde

also developed his notion

of Aesthetic

Empire

in

the

context of

contemporary nglish

literature

on

the nature

of

"Britishness."eterBrooker

nd

Peter

Widdowson

solate wo

trands

of

esthetic

hought

n

turn-of-the-centuryngland-"art

or

mpire's

sake" and "artforart'ssake."The formertrand, xemplified y

writers

ike

Kipling,

elied

upon

the

rhetoric

f

a

"declamatory,

cajoling

nd

upliftingatriotism."

n

contrast,

roponents

f

"art

for

art's

ake,"

Wilde

ncluded,

ften

riticized

ingoistic

elebrations

f

imperial

wars.

Despite

these

differences, owever,

he

two sides

shared

an

analogous

orm

f

patriotism. ccording

o

Brooker

nd

Widdowson, lthough

he "arts

or

rt's

ake"

movement

as,

on the

whole,"non-aggressiveand)

sometimes

on-militaristic,"

ts

advo-

cates

were

nonetheless

invested

n ideas of

the

national

haracter,

its traditions nd a unifyingove of country."Those abashed at

aggressive mperialism,"hey

ontinue,

may

have

felt

more

com-

fortable

with

a

contemplative nglishness

nd the 'true

empire'

CurtisMarez

263





9/32


10/32

consumer

nterest

n

"curios"

nd

"knickknacks"

rom

India,China,

Japan

nd

elsewhere."26

o the audiences

he

addressed

during

his

1882

American

ecture

tour,

Wilde

often

recommended orms

f

non-European rnamentation(including upposed Eastern water

jugs

and

embroidery,apanese

ases

and

mattings,

urkish

at

racks,

and

rugs

from

hina and

Persia)

as

designmodels."2

nder

Wilde's

editorship,

Woman'sWorld

ublished

ver

thirtyssaysdealing

with

aspects

of

so-called exotic

culturesand

their

ornaments.

hese

articles,

oo numerous o

name,

ncludereferences

o

Eastern

mac-

rame

nd

wallpaper esigns;

ersian,

gyptian

nd

Indian

ppliques;

South African

strich eathers or

fans;

South

American

erfume

bottles; gyptian

nd

Indian

shoes;

Egyptian,

hinese

and

Japanese

combs;Chinese creens; ndChinese, gyptian,urkishndPersian

bridal ostumes.

All of

theseWoman'sWorld

ssays

ither

explicitly

or

implicitlyuggest

hat

non-European

rnaments hould

inspire

the

fashion

hoices

f

wealthy nglish

women.

Wilde

further

uggested

hat

Europeandesigners

ad

been

influ-

enced

in

important aysby

the

example

f

non-Westernrnament.

In

his Woman's

World

eview fAlan

Cole's

translation

f

Lefebure's

History

f

Embroidery

nd

Lace,

for

nstance,

Wilde

discussed

he

beneficentnfluencefEasterndesigns nEuropean

ace-making.28

In

"The

Decay

of

Lying" 1889),

Wilde described he

relationship

between

European design

traditions

nd

"Oriental"

models n the

following ay:

The

whole

history

f

decorative)

rts

n

Europe

s the record

f

the

struggle

etween

Orientalism,

ith ts

frank

ejection

of

imitation,

ts

ove

of

artistic

onvention,

ts

dislike

f

the

actual

representation

f

any object

in

Nature,

nd our

own

imitative

spirit.Wherever

he former as

been

paramount

..

we havehad

beautiful nd imaginativework. .. But whereverwe havereturnedoLifeand

Nature,

urwork as

always

ecome

vulgar,

common nd

uninteresting.CW, 979)

Wilde's rejection

of

mimetic

realism makes

him

sympathetic

to

"Orientalism."

However,

"Oriental"

ornament

does not

represent,

for

Wilde,

a

truly

utonomous aesthetic

tradition.

As

Wilde

told

an

American

audience,

Asian

anti-mimeticism

acks the

purity

f

Classi-

cal restraint nd

becomes

monstrous

n its

too absolute

distance

from

nature. True

art,

Wilde

argues,

must

reconcile

Asian abstraction

with

a Greek-like attention to the physical world.29Wilde's celebrated

Hellenic

revival

may

thus

more

accurately

be

called

the Hellenic

perfecting

f

Oriental"

esthetics,

n

which

European

rtists

produce

Curtis

Marez

265





11/32

the

perfect armony

etweenGreek

particularity

nd

Asian

bstrac-

tion.

Thus

even

though

Wilde

cultivates

taste

forAsian rt

forms,

his

appreciation

f

non-Western

rnamentss

paternalistic,

ubordi-

nating uchobjects othegreater oodofhis AestheticEmpire.

Wilde's nterest

n

so-called

xotic

rnamentmplies

hierarchical

distinction

etween,

n

the

one

hand,

the

autonomous,

lassically

derived

European

Fine

Arts,

which,

he

argued,

xisted

bove or

beyond

the

marketplace,

nd,

on the other

hand,

the

supposedly

merely

rnamentalr decorative

rafts

f

the

non-European

orld.

For

Wilde,

non-Westernrnament

ould

serve s

raw

material

nspir-

ing

he

rtist-critic,

ut t

could

not

tself e

classified

s art.

Ironically,

the

autonomy

f

greatEuropean

art-its

position eyond

he

mar-

ketplace-depended upon the Westernartist'suse of materials

imported

rom

oreign

ountries.

Wilde's rue

men

f

ulture hus ose

above

the

market

nd

the

merely

rnamental

by appropriating

nd

"improving"non-Western

rnamentation.

By actively urnishing

is

Empire

with

catalogue

of tasteful

foreign bjects-by helping

o

promote nd

nstitutionalizehetaste

or

whathe viewed

s

exotica-

Wilde reformulatedut

substantially

econfirmed

n

imperial

ivi-

sion of aborbetweenBritish

subjects

nd

non-European bjects."3

In

the

imperial eography

ilde

maps, hen,

he

rish

an

become

citizensf heBritish

mpire,

nd

by

xtension,

he

egitimate

eirs f

European

culture,

nly

f

others re

treated s

objects

and

hence

excluded

rom

imperial itizenship:

ilde

can

only ppear

British

nd

European n contrast o people he regards s

even

ess British

nd

European

than

himself.

ven

as

Wilde distinguished

etween

him-

self

nd

non-Western

eoples,

however,

nglish

nd

American

bserv-

ersdismantled

his

istinction,

eeing

him s

just

notherrish

savage.

WILDE

IN

BLACK,

RED,

AND YELLOW

FACE

Wilde's efforts o

distinguish

is

own

presumably avage

Irish

identity

rom

images

f other olonial

peoples

met

with

only

imited

success

since

many

f his

critics ontinued

o

linkhim

with

he

very

types

f

"wildness"

e

was

trying

o transcend.

During

his American

tour

of

1882,

for

nstance,

Wilde was

constantlyepresented

ith

simian features.

he

Harper's Weekly

or

28 January,882

even

printed

an

engraving

f

"The Aesthetic

Monkey"-an elegantly

dressed

chimp

whose

paw

restsnear

a

lily

s he

grazesraptly

t

a

sunflower.ikenumerous ther aricatures,heengraving arodies

Wilde's

(in)famous

aste

for

unflowers

nd ilies.

Even more

striking

was a

cartoon

rinted

n

the Washingtonost

and

ater

reproduced

266

Colonialism

nd Wilde'sOpium

Smoke

creen





12/32

in

the St.

Louis

Post-Dispatch

hat

juxtaposed drawing

f

Wilde

and

a

sketch

f

the "Wild

Man of

Borneo."

The

attached ext

sks

"How far

s it

from

his to

this?"

The

caption

continues:

"judging

from he resemblancen feature, ose and occupation,"he two

"Wild"

men

are

"undoubtedly

kin. .. If Mr. Darwin

s

right

n

his

theory,

as not

he

climax f evolution een

reached nd are we not

ending

down

the

hill

toward he

aboriginal tarting oint gain?""'

Recalling

his

aricature,

aniel

O'Connell

noted hat

n

San

Fran-

cisco,

Wildewas

"regarded

n

aboutthe same

ight

s

the Wild

man

of

Borneo."32

s

if

attesting

o the

kinship

etween

Wilde

and

the

simian

wild

man,

one

observer

remembered

hat a

London

zoo

housed a

monkey

hich

he

keepers

alled

"Hoscar

Wilde."33Such

representations

ere informed

y

fin-de-siecle

mages

of

"simian"

rishmen.34

ne

1882 lithograph epicted stereotypical,

simian-jawedPaddy"who proclaimed Begorra

nd I believe

am

Oscar Himself."

he caricature

as

entitled

NationalAesthetics"

n

an

apparent ab

at

Irish

nationalism.35

he

image

of

the

Wild(e)

apeman

lso

represented response

o a

particularspect

ofWilde's

aestheticism:

is

advocacy

f

anti-mimetic,

nti-naturalist

rnamen-

tation

eemed ike

"monkey-shines"

o a

more

or

less middle-class

audience ommittedoaesthetic ealism. o this udience,Wildewas

not

true

man f

culture ut nstead

merely aped"culture-monkey

see,

monkey

o.

Contemporary

ssessments

f

non-Western

rnament

reinforced

uch

judgement. s the

British

thnographer

ir Haddon

argued, savage"

rnament

emained bstract ecause

non-European

artists

id not

opydirectly

rom

ature ut

nstead

merely

mimicked

earlier

naturalisticesigns

nd thus

produced degenerate

eries

of

copies ncreasingly

emoved

rom

nature.36

or

people

who

denigrated

so-called

primitivert,

Wilde's nterest

n non-Western

rnament,

despitehisown laims ort,madehim eem ess,notmore, ivilized.

Various aricatures lso

linkedWilde

withblack Americans.

he

assumption hat

former

American

laves

"aped"

Wilde's aesthetic

tastes

demonstrated,

o

some,

that hetwowere

akin.

n an

attempt

to discredit

Wilde's esthetic

heories,

or

xample,

n

Atlanta

eporter

told the

author

hat

black

women

had

worn

sunflowers-the

very

flower

hatWilde had

famously

ecommended

or

use

in

art and

fashion-during

heir

IndependenceDay parade.37

satiric

biogra-

phy

f

Wilde sold

on

American

rains

similarlyuggested

hatWilde

was an aestheticmodel forblackwomen.Thispamphletncluded

cartoon,

aptioned

A

Symphony

n

Colour,"

hat

represents

Wilde

surrounded

y admiring

lack

femalehouse

servants.

ne

of

the

CurtisMarez

267





13/32

Figure .

"A

Symphony

n

Colour,"

illiam

Figure .

"The

Aestheticraze,"

Will-

Andrews

lark

emorial

ibrary,niversity

am Andrews

larkMemorial

ibrary,

of

California,

os

Angeles University

f

California,

os

Angeles

servantsolds lily,nothersunflowerfigure).An1882 ithograph

entitled

The

Aesthetic

raze" caricatured

Wilde

n this

way

s

well.

The

cartoon

epicts

minstrel-like

haracter,

ressed

s

Wilde,

hold-

ing giant

unflower.

n

response

o this

spectacle, "mammy"igure

who s

doing aundry esponds

What's

e

matter

id

de

Nigga?Why

Oscar

you's gone wild " figure ).

Another

ithograph ictured

black

man

holding

white

lily

and

announcing

Ise

qwine

for

to

worship

at

lily

kase t

sembles

me"

(figure ).

Racialized

aricatures

of Wildealso tooktheform fpublic performances,s

whenYale

students

isrupted

Wilde's

New

Haven

address

by rranging

or tall

black

servant,

earing

red

necktie

nd

a

sunflower

n his

button

hole,

o

ead

their

rocession

nto he ecture

all.38

Notto

be

outdone

by

heir

peers,

Rochestertudents

copied

his

prank, aying

n

elderly

black

man in

Wildean

attire

o dance

down

the lecture

hall

aisle

carrying huge bouquet

of

flowers.39

Finally,

he

St.

Louis

Post-

Dispatch

went o

far

s to

nvent

he

story

hat he

autographs

Wilde

gave

to

admirers

ere

n fact

opied

out

by

John,

is

black

valet.4"

ll

of these incidents uggestthat,at least forsome contemporary

observers,

t

was

difficult

o

distinguish

etween he

rish

riginal

nd

black opies.The

aricatures

educed

Wilde

and the

formerlaves

o

268

Colonialism

nd

Wilde's

Opium

Smoke

creen





14/32

Figure 3.

Color

lithography y

E. B.

Duval,

Wilde as

African

American,

Figure4.

Wilde Dressed as a Native

American,

William Andrews

Clark

Memorial

WilliamAndrews

larkMemorial

ibrary,

ni-

Library,University

f

California,

os

versity

f

California,

os

Angeles

Angeles

the same

level:

just

as

Wilde

supposedlymerely

mimicked rue

culture,

lack

people

in

turn

upposedly aped"

Wilde.

Such

ssociations

erenot

onfinedo

Americanudiences.

eneath

a

Punch

artoon fWilde s a

giant

unflower

as amended he

phrase

"O,

I ell

ust

as

happy

s

a

bright

unflower"--a

entiment

hich he

caricature

ttributes

o the

"Lays

of

Christy instrelsy."41

In

another

English eriodical,

he

figure

f

he

black

ervant

ecomes

metonym

for heaesthete e serves. hisparody-a dialogue etween wodan-

dies-is

illustrated

y

cartoon f black ervant

n

"Oriental"

dress.42

Puck

even

printed

cartoon f

Wilde

with

"pickaninny"

airdo.43

Wilde

was also

lampooned

n caricatures

hich

ompared

im o

American ndians and

the

Chinese. The satiric

iography

old

on

American rains nded

with

drawing

f

Wilde dressed

s a

Native

American

figure ).

In

a

move

which

ombined

acism

nd

homopho-

bia,

Wilde

was

even

erotically

inked o a

"Siouxchief'

who

toured

with Buffalo

Bill's Wild

West

show;

news

reporters

ranslated he

chief's peech ntheshow s "meaning desireto be left lone n a

forest

for

a

few

moments

with

Oscar

Wilde."44

o

many

of his

contemporaries,

ilde's

hair,

which

was

quite ongduring

is

Ameri-

CurtisMarez

269





15/32

Figure5.

Wilde as

Chinese,

olor

ithograph y

E. B.

Duval,

William

Andrews

Clark

Memorial

ibrary, niversity

f

California,

os

Angeles

270

Colonialism

nd Wilde's

Opium

Smoke creen





16/32

Figure6.

"A

Voluptuary,"

illiam

Andrews

lark

Memorial

Library, niversity

of

California,

os

Angeles

Curtis

Marez

271





17/32

can

tour,

einforced

his ssociationwith

Native

Americans.

Nova

Scotia

pressman eported

hatWilde'shair was as

"straight

s

an

Indian's."45

nd

in

England,

Puck

printed

cartoon

representing

Wildewith Mohawkhaircut a la

Cherokee"(sic).46

To

other

observers,

Wilde's

long

hair

made

him

resemblethe

Chinese.One 1882

American

ithographicturesWilde s

a

grotesque

cartoon

Chinaman"

with

a

pigtail

nd "Fu

Manchu" moustache,

flanked

y purportedly

riental ases

containing

sunflower

nd a

lily.

he

sunflower,

hichhas ratsfor

etals, uggests tereotypes

f

the

Chinese

s

parasitic

ermin

threatening

o

overrun merica.

he

cartoon's

aption

reads:

"No

likee to callee

me

Johnnee,

allee me

Oscar"

(figure ). Following

American

publications,nglish eriodi-

cals similarlyinkedWildewith heChinese. n a satiric eview fa

LondonChineserestaurant

ublished

n

the llustrated

porting

nd

DramaticNews

for

August 894,

for

nstance,

reviewer

xpressed

his

disappointment

hat

he

restaurant

id not erve

oasted

dog

and

concluded that

"even

the

spectacle

of

Oscar

the Irreproachable

seated

on

theterrace

. .

fails

o lure

us

further."

he

accompanying

sketch,

aptioned

Oscar

in

China,"

depicts

Wilde

smoking,eacup

in

hand,

s a

pigtailed

hinese

waiter

ooks

on.47

English

atirists

apparently epresented

Wilde as

"Oriental"

e-

causeofhistaste or hineseopium. na caricaturefWildeprinted

in the

18 May 1893

Oxford

Magazine

and

captioned

The

New

Culture,"

Max

Beerbohm

represented

im

holding

hukha

for n

Oriental

genie.48 imilarly, drawing

ntitled

A

Voluptuary"

n

the

14 July 894,

issue of

the

English magazinePick-Me-Up ictures

Wilde as a

presumed

Oriental.The

ketch

depicts

him

resting

ndo-

lently

n

his

chair,

moking

ne

of

his

opium-laced igarettes,

nd

proclaiming

To

rise,

o

take a

little

opium,

o

sleep

till

unch,

nd

afteragainto take littleopium ndsleeptilldinner,hat s a lifeof

pleasure."

A close examination f

Wilde's

face

reveals

cartoonish

"Chinese"

features-thin,

lit-like

yes

and

prominent

uck teeth

(figure ). Although

have not

encountered

photo

f

Wilde

which

exhibits uck

teeth,

aricatures ften

o.49

nd t leastone

observer

rememberedWilde

with

the

heavy

idded "almond

haped" eyes

"seen

sometimes

nOrientals."50

What re we

to

makeof

caricatureshat

epresent

Wilde

as

Black,

Native

American,

nd

Chinese?

First,

hese cartoons

emonstrate

thesimultaneousautonomynd nterdependencef ex,gender,nd

race.

In

the late

nineteenth

entury,

octors

nd

ethnographers

associated

non-Western

eoples

with

degenerate,

eminine

raits.51

272

Colonialism

nd Wilde'sOpiumSmoke

creen





18/32

These

specialistsmagined

he

so-called

avages

s frivolous

nd

effeminate,

ith

penchant

or

xtravagantrnamentation,

uch

s

glassbeads,feathers,

nd

other

eminine

inery.

he caricaturists

produced opularersionsfthese upposedlycientificiscourses

when

they ompared

Wilde,

with

is sometimes

ong

hair

nd

his

flowers

nd

silk

stockings,

o

non-Europeans,articularly

on-

Western

omen. is

editorship

f

Woman's

orld,

ith

ts

focus n

non-Western

rnament,

usthave

reinforced

hese

assumptions.

Wilde's

ontemporaries

ften

escribed

im

s

both

feminine"

nd

"savage."52esponses

o

Wilde's

rial,

or

xample,

mobilized

is-

ceral,

nti-Irish

entiments

n

which

Wilde's

omosexualityepre-

sented

foreignontagion

hat

hreatened

ngland.

fter

he

first

trial, heNational bserverongratulatedordQueensberrynd

the

court

for

estroying

he

High

Priest f

the

Decadents.

he

obscure

mposter,

hose

rominence

as

been

social

utrage

ver

since

he transferredrom

rinity

ublin

o Oxford is

vices,

his

follies

nd his

vanities,

as

been

exposed."53

While

homophobia

remains

he

dominant

heme

f

uch

ile,

acism

einforced

ostile

assessments

f

Wilde's

exuality.

he editorialist

n

The National

Observer,

or

xample,

ontended

hatWilde's

onviction

ad

"re-

vealed" vain imposter,"n Irishmanhomerelyaped"English

civilization.

ecause

Wilde

nhabited

olatile,

riss-crossing

order

zonesof both

sexuality

nd

race,

his

critics eacted

yreasserting

fixed oundariesetween

reland

nd

England,

nd

between

rinity

Dublin

nd

Oxford.

Second,

he aricatures

emonstrate

he

hreateningmplications

of

Wilde's estheticheories

or

ominant

iddle-class

alues.

His

championing

f

anti-mimeticism,

rtificiality,

aziness,

ying,

nd

decay xplicitlyhallenged

ominant

nglish

nd

American

otions

ofrealism,aturalism,heworkthic,incerity,ndprogress. any

Americans

nd

Western

uropeans

elieved

hat

on-Western

eoples

represented,

ike

Wilde,

he

ntithesis

f

hese

alues.

tereotypes

f

the

azy

lack

nd he ndolent

hinese

ecall

Wilde's

uncturing

f

middle-class

ieties oncerning

he

value

of

disciplined

abor;

his

famous

olemic gainst

he

work

thic

elps xplain hy

aricatur-

ists

depicted

im s

a bad

example

or on-Western

ervants,

s in

the

sketch

f Wilde

distracting

lack

female ervants

rom

heir

work.n

the

ackground

f

his

rawing,busy

lack utler

iterally

looksdownuponWilde ndhisadmirers. second artoonuxta-

poses

n

ndolentlack

Oscar"

with

blackwoman

ashing

lothes.

These aricatures

uggest

hatWilde's

ritique

f

he

work

thic

was

Curtis

Marez

273





19/32

read

as

an

attack

n

the values

underwriting

division

f abor

that

constructed

on-Western

eoples

as

supposedly

atural eserves

f

labor

power.

The finalpoint to be made concerning he caricatures s a

corollary

f

the first wo.

These

parodies

attest o

an

economy

f

racial

representation

hich

both

enabled and counteredWilde's

attempts

o

reproduce

n

inclusive,

ritish

nd

European

cultural

tradition. rmedwith

his

aesthetic

heories,

Wilde endeavored

o

transcend he imits

f

his

colonial

rigins

nd

acquire

he

privileges

of

membership

n an Aesthetic

Empire

which ould

represent

he

Irish

s

well

as

the

English.

Wilde's ffortso

overcome is

nferior

Irish

origins yconstructingEuropean

cultural

identity

ould

not,

however, uarantee hatEnglishand American udienceswould

accept

him

as

an

equal.

On

the

contrary,

o

matter

ow

perfect

is

English

accent

became,

to

many

observersWilde remained

an

Irishman

trying

o

ape

his

betters.

he

caricatures,

n other

words,

attempt

o

deconstructWilde's

displacement

f his rish

avageness

onto

non-Western

peoples by reconstructing

he

Irish s

racialized

colonial

subjects.

What this

dynamic hereforemakesvisible

s

the

process whereby

he "unstable

quilibrium"

f

racial

categories

s

constantly

ontested nd

reformulated.54In thefinal

ection,

myunderstanding

f Wilde's rish

rajectory,

his

formulation

f

a

British

and

European identity,

nd

the

caricaturist'seformation

f

that

identity

ill

guide myreading

f

Dorian

Gray.

will

rgue

hat orian's

pium

ddiction

ecomes foil

for

Wilde's

edemptiveppropriation

f

non-Westernultures:

orian's

dependency

orientalizes

him,

threatening

o

dissolve

his British

identity.

he fact hat hisracialization

arrative imics

Wilde's wn

story

llustrates

he

singular ersistence-however

eformulated

r

reformulateable-ofacialeconomiesnlate-Victorianulture.

THE CONSOLATION OF

ARTAND THE

PAINS OF

OPIUM

Psychoactiverugs,

t

has been

suggested,

re

the

glue

of

em-

pires-particularly

f

one

extends

he ist f

psychoactiverugs

beyond piates,

lcohol,

obacco,

ea,

coffee

nd chocolate

o

include

ugar

nd

some

spices.

As

commodities,sychoactive

drugs

re

readily

sed

up, hey

reate

heir wn

emand,

eople

will

pay

far

more han heir

production

osts

or

hem,

nd

they

are

relativelyransportable

r

at least their

supply

an

often

e

controlled. On the other hand . . . psychoactive drugs can also

play

heir

part

s

empires

ome

unstuck.

Robin

Room55

Colonialism

nd

Wilde's

Opium

Smoke

creen

74





20/32

When

Wildewrote

orian

Gray,

he

medical

nd

moral

anic

over

opium

use had reached

unprecedentedevels.56 pium

critics

epre-

sented

addiction

o the

drug

s a

form

f

racial

contagion

kin

to

miscegenation;nglish eformerseemedthedrug specially erni-

cious

because

it

suggested

he

possibility

f a

quasi-racial

ransfor-

mation

r

degeneration.

he use

of

words ike

"taint"

nd

"adultera-

tion"

to describeopium's

ffectsn

the

bloodstream ndicates

he

phantasmatic

onnection

etween

fears

f

miscegenation

nd

con-

cern

over

the use

of

a

dangerous oreign

ubstance.

ince scientists

performed

ittle

new

drug

research

n

the

period,

criticsrelied

heavilyupon literary epresentations

f

addiction.57

hese

literary

depictions

f

opium

use

generally

onflate wo

fears-the

fear of

blood-mixingnthe ndividualEnglish ody ndthefear fa foreign

invasion f

the

national

ody.58

hile

Thomas

De

Quincey's

onfes-

sions

of

an

EnglishOpium

Eater

may

have

initiated

his

tradition,

beginning

round

1860

and

continuing

nto the

twentieth

century,

Englishreaders onsumed

arious

epresentations

f so-called

ori-

ental

drug

use.

A

partial

ist

of such

representations

ould

nclude

accounts

f

the

Prince

f

Wales's isit o

a

den n

the

1860s,

Dickens's

unfinished

ovel The

Mystery

f

Edwin

Drood

(1870),

various

journalistic exposees," he SherlockHolmes story The Man with

the

Twisted

ip,"

and,

of

course,

Dorian

Gray.

Wilde

himself

isited

an

opium

den while

ouring

he

San Francisco

Chinatownn

1882.59

Reformers

onstructedhe

stereotype

f

opium

s

a

"yellow eril"

in

response

to

a

newfin-de-siecle

olonial

geography. uring

the

1880s

and

1890s, England

was

increasingly

ntermixed

ith

and

dependentupon

non-Western

ultures.

As Eric

Hobsbawm

rgues,

European

colonization

ncreased

harply

n this

period:roughly

e-

tween

880

and

1914,

ctive

olicies

f

formal

onquest,

nnexation

and administration"eplaced arlier olicieswhich implyssumed

the

"economic nd

militaryupremacy"

f

capitalist,

Western

uro-

pean

countries.

uring

these

years,

ne-fourth

f

the

world's

and

mass

was

divided

r

redivided

mong

alf

dozen states.

or Britain

in this

period,

ndia was the

crown olonial

ewel.

Perceived

nter-

ests in India

required

a

global expansion

f British

military

nd

economic

power.

o

maintainccess to the

region,

ritish

trategists

sought

ontrol

ot

only

ver

the hort ea

routes

o

the

ubcontinent

(Egypt,

he Middle

East,

the

Red

Sea,

the

Persian

Gulf,

nd

South

Arabia),and the long sea-routes(the Cape of Good Hope and

Singapore),

ut

also

over

the

entire

ndian

Ocean,

including

rucial

sectors

f

the

African

oast and

ts

hinterland."

s

a

result,mprove-

Curtis

Marez

275





21/32

ments

n

transportation

nd

communication

xposed

British

onsum-

ers to goods

from round he

world.Manufacturers

nd

consumers

became

increasinglyependent

n materials rom he

non-Western

world, ikerubber the Congo,theAmazon), opper Chile,Peru,

Zaire, Zambia),

and diamonds

South Africa).

More and

more,

British

rain nd

meat ame

from

uropean

ettlementsn

Australia

and the

Americas.Near the turn f the

century,

ome of the

first

tropical

nd

sub-tropical

ruits

ppeared

on

European ables,

s did

increasing

mounts f

more

traditional

olonial

goods

such

as

tea,

coffee,

nd

ocoa.60 Perhaps

ven

moreto

the

point

n

the

present

context,

n

the

ast third

f

the

nineteenth

entury,

ondon

was

the

center

f

the

nternational

drug

rade,

with

most

f

the

world's

supply

ofrawdrugs assing hroughheauctionhousesofMincing

ane.61

Along

with

new

goods,

colonial

expansion

lso

brought

new

problems, ncluding

ears

of

political

verextension,

upposed

for-

eign

nvasion,

omestic

nrest,

nd

racial

dissipation

r

contagion-

forms f

decay

from oth

without nd

within.62

f

particular

oncern

to

Londonerswas

the

ncreasingly

isible

resence

f

the

Chinese

n

the East

End.

During

the

1880s

and

90s,

Chinese

emigration

o

England, articularly

ondon,

greatly

ncreased.

By 1881

there

were

over

665

Chinese

in

England, up

from

147 twenty ears

earlier.

Close to fourhundredChinesewere

iving

nLondon n

1891,

and

most

of

these

ived

along

two

narrow ast End

streets,

ennyfields

and Limehouse

Causeway.63 hough by

American

tandards

he

London

Chinese

population

was

comparatively

mall,

o

many

En-

glish

people

the

Chinesenonetheless

ppeared

o

constitute

threat

to public safety.

ear of

the Chinese helps explain he

fin-de-siecle

outcry

ver

opium,

for

even

though piates

were

widely

vailable

throughout

he

nineteenth

century,hey

were

onlyperceived

s

a

problemwhencoupledwithincreasing hineseemigrationo Lon-

don.64

s Marek

Kohn

writes,

he Chinese

opium

dens

in

the East

End

"threw ears

f

racial

degeneracy

nto

relief,"

uggesting

hat

the

drug

had

the

power

"to

turn

English

folkChinese-to act as a

fluid medium

for

the

transmission f

foreignness."65eformers,

governmentfficials,

nd members

f

the

press

feared hat

opium-

induced

racial

contagion

would

inevitably

rickle

upwards,moving

from

he Chinese

to

the

white

working

lass before

finallynfecting

the middle

class.66Opium,

would

argue,

thus

encapsulated

he

conditions f a relatively ew imperialgeographyn whichthe

masters

f

European

culture ound hemselves

ncreasinglyepen-

dent

upon

the non-Western

orld

for

goods

and abor.67

Colonialism nd Wilde's

Opium

Smoke

creen

76





22/32

In

The Picture

f

Dorian

Gray,

Wilde reflects

pon

such

changes

in

the

colonial

landscapeby foregroundingstensibly

xotic

goods,

particularly

ntoxicants. is

characters onsume

Turkish

cigarettes,

coffee, ea, cocoa, and,ofcourse, pium.Wildebeginshis novelby

plunging

he

reader

nto

an

environment

heavy

with

opium

smoke

and

the weight

f non-Western

rtobjects:

From

he

orner f hedivan f

Persianaddle-bagsn

which

e

was

ying,moking,

s was his

custom,

nnumerable

igarettes,

Lord

Henry

Wotton

ould

ust

catch he

gleam

f

the

honey-

sweet nd

honey-colored

lossomsf

laburnum,

hose

remu-

lousbrancheseemed

ardly

bleto

bear

he

burden f

beauty

so flame-likes

theirs;

nd

now

nd hen

he antastic

hadowsf

birds n flight litted cross the longtussore-silkurtains hat

were tretched

n frontf

he

huge

window,

roducing

kind f

momentaryapanese

ffect,

nd

making

im hink f

those

pallid

jade-faced ainters

f

Tokio

who,through

he medium f

an

art

that s

necessarily

mmobile,

eek

to

convey

hesenseof wiftness

and

motion.

CW, 18)

Here Lord

Henry magines

he scene as a sort

of

paintedJapanese

screen;

he

Japanese

ffect"

istracts is

attention,

owever

riefly,

from

he

particularities

f

his

West

London

setting,

nd

transports

him oanother orld.Whilehis"oriental"fantasyiterallyests pon

a

Persian

divan,

t also

floats

pon

a

cloud

of

cigarette

moke

heavily

"tainted"

with

opium CW, 19).

In this

way,

Wilde

associatesthe

consumption f

non-Western

rtifacts

with

the consumption

f

opium

and

suggests

hat

both llow

Lord

Henry

o

escape

from

is

immediate

urroundings.68

Eventually,

oth

opium

and

non-Westernrtwill

serve he

same

purpose

for

Dorian,

ntermittentlyllowing

im

to

escape

his

past.

Indeed, tragic

vents

eem

to stimulate

orian's

aste

for

oth xotic

ornamentationnd opium.After ybilVane'ssuicide,for nstance,

Dorian

consoles

himself

by studying

nusual

extiles,

uch

as

Delhi

muslins,

acca

gauzes,

and

cloth

from

ava

nd China.

Dorian

also

finds

relief n

the

"monstrous"

musical

nstruments

e

loves to

"touch

nd

try"CW, 106-7).

After

murdering

asil

Halward,

orian

has

recourse o the

numbing

ffects

f

opium,

which

he stores

n an

appropriately

xotic

container,

n elaborate

gold-dust acquered

Chinese

box

CW, 139).

And

n

chapter

ixteen,

orian

travels

o

an

East

End

opium

den

hoping

to

purchase forgetfulness,

f

not

forgiveness:Therewereopium-dens, here ne couldbuyoblivion,

dens

of horror

here he

memory

f

old sinscould be

destroyed y

the

madness f sins

that

were

new"(CW, 40).

While

on

his

way

to

CurtisMarez

277





23/32

the

East

End,

he

compulsively epeats

to

himself

Lord

Henry's

formula To cure

the

soul

by

means f the

senses,

nd the

senses

by

means

of

the

soul,"

hoping

hat,

with

he

help

of

opium,

he

may

realizeat leastthefirst alf fthis hant.

While there re

good

reasons

for

comparing

orian'sart

objects

and his

opium-both

are

exotic, oreign

ubstances-such

a com-

parison artially

bscures

heir

ifferentistorical

eanings.69round

the

turn

of

the

century,

on-Western

rnament

nd

opium

were

beginning

o

represent pposing

ocial

values:

whilethe

possession

of

the first

ould

potentially

ttest

o one's cultured ove

of

beauty,

the

possession

f

the

second

might

ndicate

dangerous,

r

at the

very

east

suspect,

taste

for

supposedly oreign

ensations.

Even

thoughWilde uggestshat oth pium nd non-European rnament

produce

similar tates

of

transcendent

forgetfulness,

e

ultimately

distinguishes

etween he

negative, ebilitating

ffects

f

the first

and

the

positive, iberating otential

f

the second.

Whereas

the

taste

or

on-Western usical

nstrumentsnnobles

orian n

Wilde's

eyes,

taste

for

opiumultimatelyegrades

him.

Wilde'sown

borrowing

f

aestheticmodels

from

dead

or

dying"

non-Western

ultures

etermined

he

sharp

distinction

e

made

be-

tween

he

appropriation

f

non-Europeanrtifacts,

n

the one

hand,and the assimilation f

opium,

on the other.Because Wilde

pre-

sumed

thatnon-Westernultures

were no

longer iving,

e believed

that rtists

ould

unproblematicallyppropriate

xotic

bjects

so

as

to

injectEuropean

culture

withnew

aesthetic

ife.

Wilde's

work n

this

rea

helped popularize

he

premise

hat

non-European eoples

had

died so that

Europeansmight

ive-that

they

ad

sacrificed

heir

lives

so

that

heir

rnamental

emains

might edeemWestern

ul-

ture.

Wilde constructed

unified

uropean dentity,

have

argued,

throughiterarynd ournalistic ritings hich ostered tastefor

deracinated

non-Western

goods.

While

composing

Dorian

Gray,

Wildeborrowed

eavily

rom South

Kensingtonublication

n

the

historical

nd

geographical

volution f

music.7"

n

the

passages

on

South

America hich

Wilde

ncorporated

ntoDorian

Gray,

heSouth

Kensingtonatalogue epeatedly

ndicated

hat ollectors

iscovered

the

objects

under

iscussionn

ancient

ombs.71

ike

Wilde,

museum

collectors

apparently

ound

heworks

f

ancient

Aztecs nd

Mayans

more

interesting

hen

hose

of

living

outhAmericans.

In chapter 11 of Dorian Gray,Wilde writesapprovinglyf

Dorian's aste

for

he

"luxury

f

the

dead"

(CW, 109):

Dorian

finds

his

instruments

either n

the tombs

f

dead

nations

r

among

he

Colonialism

nd Wilde's

Opium

Smoke

creen

78





24/32

few

savage

tribes hat

have

survived ontact

with

western

iviliza-

tions"

(CW, 107).

Note that

Wilde

characteristically

everses

onven-

tional

assumptionsoncerning

he

source

of cultural

contagion-it

was in fact he so-called avagetribeswhosufferedhroughross-

cultural

ontact,

ot he

Europeans.Nonetheless,

e

implies

hat he

extinctionf

thesepeoples-as

well

as

the presumed

uture

xtinc-

tion

of

the

few

remaining

ribes-confers distinctive

rarity pon

their

rtifacts:

he

savage's

oss s

European

civilization's

ain.

Once

these artifacts

rom

dead and

dying"

ultures ave

been

liberated

from heir

particular

ultural

nd

historical

ontexts, orian,

ike

Wilde,

can

employ

hem

o

help

obliterate

memories

f

the

past.72

A

similar eracination f

opium,however, roved

lmost

mpos-

sible sincethe

drug

was

intimately

ssociatedwith he

perception

f

an

immediately enacing

hinese

presence

n London.

The

close

popular

inkbetween

pium nd "theyellow eril" xplains

Wilde's

juxtaposition

f non-Western

rt and the drug.

Whereas

Wilde

suggested hat he appropriation

f non-Western

rtifacts

njected

new

life nto

a moribund esthetic

radition,

nd

in

this

way pro-

duced a

sphere

of

European autonomy

nd

freedom,

e

believed

that opium had the opposite

effect-that

t

threatened o

taint

European "blood"and to reduceEuropeansto a stateof depen-

dency.By uxtaposing

dead"

non-European

ultures o the

"living"

issue

of

Chinese

opium,

Wilde

attempted

o avoid the

type

of

dependence

on othernesswhich

plagues

Dorian:

Wilde's

negative

representationf

Dorian's

opium

ddiction llows

him

to

represent

his

own

assimilation

f

non-Western

ultures

morepositively.

Thus

in

Dorian

Gray's opium

den

chapter,

Wilde

demonizes

Dorian's

drug

ddiction

o

as

to

sanction

is

own

use

(or abuse)

of

non-European

rnament.

Wilde

accurately laces

his

opium

den in

thequaysof London's East End docks,home to visitingailors-

notably

outh

East

Asian

sailors-and the Chinese

merchants ho

catered

o

their

eeds.

Dorian

finds

imself

oised

on

the

precarious

border f

the

British

Documents

"The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke Screen"