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What is the relationship between literature and history? Using close-reading of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Remarkable Rocket’ (For Alfonso) by Neil Bartlett and The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde to explore the relationship between literature and history. £7.49
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What is the relationship between literature and history? Using close-reading of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Remarkable Rocket’ (For Alfonso) by Neil Bartlett and The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde to explore the relationship between literature and history.
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Oscar Wilde’s The Remarkable Rocket (For Alfonso) is a play by Neil Bartlett retelling the story by Oscar Wilde under the new context of an after-sex bedtime story instead of the humorous children’s story for his son Cyril it originally was. This new context allows for historical context linkin...

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  • July 11, 2023
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  • 2021/2022
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What is the relationship between literature and history? Using close-reading of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The

Remarkable Rocket’ (For Alfonso) by Neil Bartlett and The Remarkable Rocket by Oscar Wilde to

explore the relationship between literature and history.


Oscar Wilde’s The Remarkable Rocket (For Alfonso) is a play by Neil Bartlett retelling the story by

Oscar Wilde under the new context of an after-sex bedtime story instead of the humorous children’s

story for his son Cyril it originally was. This new context allows for historical context linking to the

Old Bailey trials of 1895 during which Wilde was convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two

years of hard labour during the years 1895-1897, along with intertextuality from others of Wilde’s

work . The form of a play also contributes to this as it is attempting to establish a point of dialogue as

a connection to Wilde himself. It is as though Bartlett is trying to converse with Wilde through time.




As a piece of literature that makes its intertextuality with older works explicit, with obviously The

Remarkable Rocket as well as multiple mentions and nods towards other works by Wilde, it is very

easy to delve into argument over whether historical context is beneficial when approaching a piece

of art. Looking at Bartlett’s play through the eyes of new criticism makes very little sense; though the

play stands on its own as a piece of art, it is intended as a connection to Wilde’s work and

disregarding this connection is detrimental in understanding its intentions. Using the ideas behind

new historicism however (“the historical method is not interested in asserting the transcendent or

autonomous aesthetic value of literary texts but, to use Marxist terminology, in researching the

contexts of their production, consumption and status”) 1 allows for deeper understanding in the

differences in the authors intended purpose in The Remarkable Rocket and Oscar Wilde’s The

Remarkable Rocket (for Alfonso).




1
J. A. Cuddon, The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, (London: Penguin, Third Edition,
1992), p.583.

, The Remarkable Rocket was written by Wilde in 1888, during a time in which England was run on

classism and high society. This is clearly being criticised in the story, both in the portrayal of the

royals at the start of the story, and amongst the fireworks themselves. The Page at seeing the

princess blush when she meets the prince quips “She was like a white rose before…but she is like a

red rose now” which caused the King such delight that he “gave orders that the Page's salary was to

be doubled.” However, “as he received no salary at all this was not of much use to him.” 2 In this

quote Wilde is clearly criticizing the uselessness of the court and how people in high society make a

pretense at generosity that is ultimately just posturing. Though this type of behaviour is not only

something that occurred in Wilde’s time and is indeed something that still occurs today, it is with the

understanding that, as someone considered a celebrated personality, Wilde would have experienced

a lot of this behaviour from social events and dinners he was invited to and by viewing The

Remarkable Rocket as a representation of particular moments, this children’s story can help us to

understand Wilde’s life. He was in direct contact with members of British high society and would

have seen this kind of frivolity first hand. Looking at it from the perspective of a new historicist

within a wider historical context, examining both how the writer's times affected the work and how

the work reflects the writer's times, The Remarkable Rocket is fundamentally a metaphor for

someone idolizing this high society, attempting to achieve fame and notoriety at any cost and

ultimately losing everything because of this goal. The rocket consistently deludes itself into thinking

it is more important than it is and ends up mattering to no one and fading into obscurity.




Though Oscar Wilde’s The Remarkable Rocket (for Alfonso) by Neil Bartlett is a retelling of the same

story, the message behind the play is not the same one intended by Wilde. Since being gay was a

crime in Wilde’s time, “in late nineteenth century…the law redefined sexual acts between men as




2
Oscar Wilde, ‘The Remarkable Rocket’ in The Happy Prince and Other Stories, (Hertfordshire: Wordsworth
Editions, 1993), p.5.

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