Nebbie londinesi e capziose dimenticanze: Wilde lettore di Dickens

Dickens and Wilde are both Victorian authors, even though the differences between them are numerous and obvious. However, since today we no longer see Victorianism as a homogeneous period, but as a historical phase marked by conflicting trends and ferments, it is time to re-examine the relationship between the two authors, who are themselves considered today, more than in the past, as complex personalities with multiple identities. It is thus possible to discover themes common to the two, even if treated differently, with different results. Wilde, in a series of deceptive lapses, starting with the ‘forgetfulness’ of Dickens in his famous passage on the London fog, erases the Victorian novelist with arguments that are sometimes consistent with his aesthetic ideal, other times simply bizarre. Yet a line can be drawn between Wilde and Dickens, passing through Stevenson, who admired Dickens and was admired by Wilde, in certain areas, such as that of the depiction of urban experience, of which Dickens was a master and initiator and which Wilde interprets in his own way, or the theme of secrecy that runs through Dickens’ life and Wilde's life and work.