Emasculated Wilde
Sir: I have just learned, with distress, from Jeffrey Bernard's Low life column on 13 October, that Oscar Wilde's statue in Pere Lachaise Cemetery remains emasculated. While I was writing an article on the cemetery many years ago, I too noted this deplorable state of affairs and wrote to the British Embassy to inquire what they were doing to protect British property in Paris. A deadpan reply came back that, as Wilde was an Irish subject, I should address myself to the Consulate of Eire. I did, and was assured that the matter was noted and would be taken, literally, in hand.
Fans of Wilde may well be disturbed that nothing still appears to have been done;
though it's nice to think Bernard's gener- ous libation of champagne may have helped assuage the wound, and to know that Chopin's tomb at least still receives its mysterious daily homage of fresh flowers.
Alistair Home
21 St Petersburgh Place, London W2
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