Homosexuality & Oscar Wilde

This history on Wilde brought a lot of new ideas into my head as we are getting ready to read some of his work in class. I am interested to see if there are any hints of homosexuality inside of his work. Some claimed that his work is what damned him as a gay because it was so evident within his writings. Others claim that there is no trace of homosexuality inside of his work and that he was able to keep his personal feelings out of his writings. I also thought it was interesting to read more about the community inside London and their knowledge of homosexuality. While it was something that was new, it wasn’t completely unheard of. There were bars and meeting grounds for men to come and meet each other: parks, bars, train stations, etc. The close relationship between men brings to mind the friendship between Robert & George in Lady Audley’s Secret. Had it been placed and published just a little bit later in history, I wonder if it would have been read in a more homosexual way, instead of categorizing it as purely homosocial. George was the main focus of priority on Robert’s mind. I am interested to read Wilde, and see if there are any friendships in his work that are similar/different than the friendships we have previously read about.

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