Oscar Wilde’s “The Happy Prince” : The Hidden Messages and the Debate on the Target Audience

Oscar Wilde’s fairytales have been read to children for more than a century. Nevertheless, since the time of their publication in 1888 and 1891, the target audience of The Happy Prince and Other Tales and A House of Pomegranates have been the concern of critics. Delving into the context behind the rich and colourful imagery, one can find implications of homosexuality, the Paterian aesthetic and religious connotations. According to Carol Tattersall, The Happy Prince and Other Tales successfully mislead the public that it is innocent of any intention to undermine established standards of living or writing. Tattersall’s argument is based on comparing the first collection to Wilde’s second, A House of Pomegranates, which was perceived as “offensive and immoral” (136). On the other hand, William Butler Yeats states in his introduction to The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde that overall the reviewers of The Happy Prince and Other Tales were hostile because of Wilde’s aesthetic views (ixxvi). But Yeats overlooks the fact that Wilde was very pleased and proud, dashing notes to friends and reviewers and signing copies to many people (Tattersall 129). In general, the reception of Wilde’s first collection was more positive than that of the second because it was milder and more subtle in its controversial themes.

Coup Coup Land : A Comparative Study of the Coups of Fiji

A thesis presented on the political history of Fiji from cession to Britain in 1874 compares and analyses the country’s four political coups. A military coup occurred in 1987 by Lt. Col Sitiveni Rabuka. Six months later he staged a self-coup. In 2000 George Speight staged an armed civilian coup or putsch, and in 2006 Commodore Frank Bainimarama, head of Fiji’s military forces, overthrew the government of Laisenia Qarase. This paper is an internal comparison of the four coups of which the aim is to examine why coups occur in Fiji. The conclusion is that the level of influence of the country’s traditional paramount chiefs is a strong causal factor in events leading to the political overthrows. Issues such as ethnicity, constitutionalism, democracy, traditionalism, and modernity make the study of the Fiji coups complex. All of the major actors involved have been present or have been somehow linked to each coup. Questions of leadership arise as do issues regarding pluralism and multiculturalism. These issues are discussed in this paper. The end result is that if the question of traditional leadership is not addressed within a democratic framework then Fiji will continue to have coups.

"Pegar primero: he ahí la ley" : Estereotipos de género en una obra de Oscar Castro

En el siguiente estudio se analiza la novela La vida simplemente del escritor chileno Oscar Castro publicada póstumamente en 1951. El fin de nuestra investigación es estudiar la existencia de estereotipos de género en la obra y cómo estos se reproducen o bien son desafiados en la novela. La interpretación hecha se basa principalmente en la teoría de las dicotomías (Hirdman, 2001), la cual pone énfasis en las cualidades que, históricamente, se le han atribuido a los respectivos géneros. Aplicamos un análisis crítico de texto para identificar cómo el lenguaje usado por el escritor contribuye a reproducirlos o los desafía. Para limitar nuestro trabajo hemos decidido concentrarnos en tres personajes de la obra: Berta, Roberto y la madre de Roberto. El resultado muestra que la obra de Castro tiende a contribuir a la reproducción y el mantenimiento de los estereotipos de género típicos de las dicotomías de las cuales problematiza Hirdman a excepción del personaje femenino representado por la madre de Roberto que los desafía en cierta forma.

Historia Reciente del Pueblo Mapuche (1970-2003) : Presencia y Protagonismo en la vida política de Chile

This article relates the Actual History of the Mapuche People with the different political processes that have taken place in Chile from 1970 until the present time, passing through the government of Popular Unity, the Pinochet’s Regime and the return of Democracy. The purpose of this paper is to show that the political and social conditions of the Mapuche People were directly connected with what was going on in Chile during those years, not only being part of the general Chilean History but also protagonist and mean actors of the moment.