【正文】 and life being art?s best pupil, Wilde demonstrated that art had something to do with life, rather than art being selfsufficient. Literature as art, in Oscar Wilde?s eyes, was perfect expression of life. He held that “we would each one of us be wearied if art, with her fine spirit of choice and delicate instinct of selection, did not, as it were, purify it for us, and give to it a momentary perfection” (Wilde 1997, 101). This point of view was quite similar to his theory of imitation, in that it indirectly indicated that one object or function of art was to purify the world with beauty, or to create beauty so that life could imitate. Wilde insisted that art would express nothing but art itself。 the beauty and value of art do not exist in life and nature. In writing, beautiful yet untrue stories, namely “l(fā)ying” works should be advocated. Second, art itself is but the object in that art has its own independent life and value, being obligated to nothing. Only the beauty of form in art is worth seeking after. Third, art is prior to life in that life imitates art rather than life being reflected by art. Based on a general reading of Wilde?s all types of literary works, deep understanding of his artistic theories and analyzing of the morality of his works, this paper ultimately found that there were obvious contradictions within them. 蘇州大學(xué)成教本科畢業(yè)論 文 3