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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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8/19/2019 "The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke Screen"
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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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"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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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8/19/2019 "The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke Screen"
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Figure6.
"A
Voluptuary,"
illiam
Andrews
lark
Memorial
Library, niversity
of
California,
os
Angeles
Curtis
Marez
271
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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
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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
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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
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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
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8/19/2019 "The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke Screen"
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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
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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
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8/19/2019 "The Other Addict: Reflections on Colonialism and Oscar Wilde's Opium Smoke Screen"
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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
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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