The fin de siècle period is regarded as an era of great social, philosophical and artistic change. Hence our tendency to forget that the fin de siècle notion was not born out of nothing and is part of a much larger movement developing through an entire century of change, discoveries and questioning. In this study, we have chosen to examine how some Victorian artists have fought for a re-evaluation of art, far from a mere representation of reality. Indeed, this simplistic analysis which makes art the mirror of society is rejected by artists such as Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde. The question of the self springs from this rejection of an art limited to crafts. From the Carlylean hero to Wilde’s Individualistic Christ, the various appearances of the self have acquired an unexpected dimension in Victorian literature. Truth – rejected in Wilde’s “Decay of Lying”, turned out to be obsolete and gave way to fiction. Far from being one and unique, the truth is to be found in the lie, because the latter is the mirror of man’s soul and desire. By defining art as a form of expression that is altogether personal, independent and “without a definite purpose”, in the Kantian sense of the word, Victorian artists put an end to the long historical cycle that had neglected the individual and had headed for an absolute truth. At the end of much hesitation and questioning, falsehood seemed to triumph, supported by the individual. Therefore, we offer to understand the origins of that change of mind, towards the self – whether it results from evolution or division – and to discover how truth has turned plural.
