World

London Salutes Oscar Wilde

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 1, 1998 / 9:38 AM EST / CBS

Oscar Wilde would have been vastly amused, reports CBS News Senior European Correspondent Tom Fenton.

At the unveiling of a belated British tribute to the playwright in the form of a statue, there was the Lord Mayor in full regalia, a public reading from one of his plays by Judy Dench and Nigel Hawthorne, and even the great man's great grandson.

Ninety-eight years after Oscar Wilde's death, London unveiled its first salute to the playwright it imprisoned for his homosexuality.

The idea is that tourists can sit by the statue and, if they wish, have a conversation with Wilde.

What would Wilde have thought about this?

CBS
Oscar Wilde

He once said, "There is only one thing in the world that is worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

Much of the talking about Wilde was done by actor Stephen Fry, who played him on the screen.

"We are welcoming back into the bosom of London, the city he adopted, one of its greatest figures and someone we kicked out in the most appalling way possible," he said.

The dedication took place at a time when gay politics are very much in the news in Britain. Cabinet ministers have been "outed" in the media, and a gay rights protester who interrupted the Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter sermon is being tried for violating an old church law. There is more than a hint of homophobia in the tabloid coverage of these events.

Wilde might have appreciated the fact that the Minister of Culture who came for the dedication is openly gay, as is Stephen Fry.

"There are plenty of statues of gay people up in London, some of them great empire builders -- one could talk about Lord Kitchener and Gordon of Khartoum, T.E. Lawrence -- but I don't think their sexuality is the issue," said Fry.

Those words may have been a reminder that Wilde was being celebrated Monday for his wit rather than for his sexual preferences.

The Irish-born Wilde, who was famous for his wit, achieved success with a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and plays including The Importance of Being Earnest. He fled England after serving a prison term for his homosexuality, and died in Europe in 1900.