A chara, - Oscar Wilde, aesthete of aesthetes, unashamed lover of beauty in art and fellow human beings, would have been appalled at Alan Sinfield's attempt to appropriate him as a cog in the machinery of gay "self identification". ("The Wilde way of setting up Camp," November 21st). To involve Oscar in a debate about how the "queer man" is perceived is both insulting to the great man who put his talent into his work and his genius into his life and patronising to the many diverse members of the gay community.
Of course there is a more "democratic idea" of gayness in this modern age. We are all aware of this. Oscar Wilde's legacy imposes no tyranny which compels gay men to prance down Picadilly with a sunflower or a lily falling languidly from their lapel. Whether gay of "straight" the beauty of Oscar's superb dandyism and irrepressible style is that it appeals to the theatrical and flamboyant among us, whatever our sexuality. Oscar's appeal is universal and he would never have wished to be a "blueprint" for anyone (at any rate he was far more interested in living up to his blue china).
If Oscar is seen as a "reference point" for the gay community then bravo! (And may they be commended on their excellent taste). But in exploring this, Mr Sinfield has made some unjust assaults on Oscar as a man and an artist.
He states that Oscar "denied everything sexual in his writing." This is simply not the case. Oscar's poetry contains many references to the delights of physical passion. I would direct Mr Sinfield in particular to the poem "Charmides". The statement that Wilde puts "gay men back in the closet" is unfair and unfounded. Oscar was not a homosexual Joan of Arc but an artist who expressed the purity of unselfish and unconditional love for another man in "De Profundis".
Most outrageous is Mr Sinfield's statement that Wilde's legacy fosters elements of misogyny. Oscar loved women, from Speranza (his incorrigible mother and self-proclaimed poet) to Sarah Bernhardt and Lillie Langtry. Indeed Oscar was editor of Lady's World, a woman's magazine of his day and one of his first executive duties was to change the title to Woman's World in tune with a more liberated view of female sexuality. With regard to Mr Sinfield's statements concerning class and snobbery, I would remind him that many of Oscar's writings contained tongue-in-cheek jibes at the hypocrisy of fashionable society.
Mr Sinfield's article therefore unfortunately misrepresents Oscar Wilde and foists modern responsibility on a man who was the greatest of free spirits. Oscar is an inspiration to all, not a "blueprint" or mere reference point. To paraphrase Oscar, I would remind Mr Sinfield that while he and his opinions may be in the gutter, Oscar, and those who truly love him, will always be looking at the stars. - Is mise,
Nicola Sheehan, Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2.