Novokreshchennykh I. A.

Reception of Aubrey Beardsley’s work by H. G. Wells P.  128 -140.

UDC 821.111-1.09«18»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2024.82.1.013

 

Abstract. The paper explores the perception of Aubrey Beardsley’s work by H. G. Wells in his novels Wheels of Chance (1896) and The Bulpington of Blup (1930). Using the comparative-historical and aesthetic-poetological approaches and the biographical method, we look into direct allusions to the name of Beardsley and their role in the artistic world of the two novels. The mention of Aubrey Beardsley in the novel Wheels of Chance is associated with the bicycle as a new hobby of the 90s of the 19th century and is perceived by Wells ironically as a sign of modernity and freedom. For Hoopdriver, the bicycle becomes a symbol of freedom and transcendence, which emphasizes the heroic-comic spirit of the novel. In the fictional world of the novel The Bulpington of Blup, Beardsley’s work and the decadent magazine he edited, The Yellow Book, are presented retrospectively in the context of literary and cultural events at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The hero’s father Theodore created black and white drawings for The Yellow Book, and Theodore himself published a magazine Feet of Youths, filled with protest publications, and dreamed of writing a historical epic in the Shakespearean spirit, which should surpass the achievements of W. Scott and A. Dumas. The heroes of both novels are amateur artists brought together by the desire for freedom. However, while Hoopdriver is rewarded for his imagination and spontaneous actions, Theodore and his father are ridiculed and contrasted to scholars. In The Wheels of Fortune, Beardsley is perceived as a symbol of freedom, and in The Bulpington of Blup, Wells criticizes the era of Beardsley and its followers in the 20th century. In both novels, Beardsley’s drawings are associated with female attractiveness, but whereas in The Wheels of Chance it is a playful game in the spirit of A. Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, in The Bulpington of Blup it is a story of sexual seduction, reminiscent of D. Lawrence’s novel The White Peacock.

 

Keywords: English literature, Aubrey Beardsley, H. G. Wells, artist, poster, Beardsley’s era, allusion, reception.

 

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