*Criterion Winter 02-4.16 - Divinity School - University of Chicago

He indulged a life in the shades of gay subcultures in London and Paris that ranged from
friendship with notable artists and public figures to trysts with rent boys . . .
initially, Oscar was delighted at the prospect of fatherhood.
But the stark contrast between fantasy and reality intervened.
The aesthetic of beauty that had attracted Oscar to Constance
proved an idealization that vaporized as her body changed
its contours. The full import of paternity crushed a relationship
that had been based, in large measure, upon the notion of
wife as accessory—a romantic
fiction that often resolved itself
when the husband took a mistress
and the wife adopted an
independent life, funded by her
own family resources or her
husband’s guilt, or a combination
of both.
The first son was born in
1885, a second son was delivered
a year later, in 1886. Nearly
simultaneous with these events,
Wilde began to act out his homosexuality.
The decade following
his marriage to Constance was
frenetic and productive. He
became a master of compartmentalization
and contradiction.
Oscar withdrew more and
more from Constance, though
in the rare times they spent
together he seems to have been
a very caring father to his sons,
spinning stories for them that
were a hybrid of fairy tale and
fable. He indulged a life in the
shades of gay subcultures in
London and Paris ranging from
friendships with notable artists and public figures to trysts
with rent boys, the name given opportunistic roustabouts and
runaways who turned to prostitution for a living, or at least
a meal.
Meanwhile, in spite of—or perhaps because of—this
hyperactivity, his pen was prolific. Quitting his editorship of
14 WINTER 2002
Women’s World in 1899, in the next six years he turned out
nearly every literary work for which he is now known. The
children’s stories concocted for his boys were gathered
into a volume entitled The Happy Prince and Other Tales.
A volume of critical essays entitled Intentions followed and
included The Decay of Lying and The Critic as Artist. There
followed The Soul of Man under
Socialism. Then came The Picture
of Dorian Gray, his masterwork
that shares the best qualities
of Henry James, Joseph Conrad,
and a touch of Edgar
Allan Poe.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
marked a significant turning
point. It began with Wilde’s
deep infatuation with another
aspiring young poet of unusually
striking beauty named
John Gray whom Oscar took
to calling Dorian. Clearly there
was a profound bond between
the two. It was perhaps Wilde’s
first glimpse of what might be
possible in a loving relationship
between two men, a relationship
founded upon more than
sex. But it was only a prelude.
Gray, who eventually entered
the Roman priesthood, was
soon eclipsed by the love that
would alter Wilde’s life forever.
In 1891 Wilde was briefly
introduced to Lord Alfred Bruce
Douglas, who was at the time a student at Oxford and an
aspiring young poet. Noting Douglas’s distinguished English
pedigree, and ever the astute politician, Wilde invited the
young man to dine with him at his club. Shortly thereafter,
they enjoyed a meal together and Wilde presented an
inscribed copy of Dorian Gray to the student, who confessed he