I love wilde's works. A catholic convert on his death bed. I find this upsetting. Is it tue.
Whitman (then in his 60s, with a flowing, white beard), Wilde wrote that there was “no doubt” about the great American poet’s sexual orientation—”I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips,” he boasted. !!!???
"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0010.html
a really great article about the relationship Wilde and some of his contemporaries had with Catholicism. It's a real shame that most current discussion of Wilde doesn't mention this. Wilde's witty deathbed quip "Either the drapes go or I do!" seems to be more well-known than his deathbed conversion. But Wilde was a complicated figure - not fitting neatly into the category of "gay hero" - and to acknowledge that fact certainly ruffles the feathers of some folks today.