Not decent enough
Sir: George Melly's reply to Peregrine Worsthome (Letters, 31 May) is as 'over- excitable' as the article that prompted it. Is Mr Melly really suggesting that when decid- ing whether to erect a statue of Oscar Wilde those responsible ought to disregard the moral being they are asked to honour?
Mr Melly absolves Mr Wilde on the grounds that as prostitution was involved, the exploitation was mutual, but what cre- ates that market and what distinction can be properly drawn between Mr Wilde's use of boys in North Africa and the sex tourism that outrages contemporary moral values? Is Mr Wilde to be excused judgment because he employed his talent writing so many amusing bonbons?
Mr Melly calls the Marquess of Queens- berry Wilde's destroyer', but Mr Wilde prosecuted Lord Queensberry and sought his incarceration, being prosecuted by the Crown when he failed. Mr Wilde perjured himself; perhaps he would be a more sym- pathetic martyr had he commenced no action of his own and had been honest if made the subject of one.
There are those with homoerotic sensibil- ity whose deeds are worthy of public hon- our (one thinks of Gordon of Khartoum), but underneath the silken finery Mr Wilde
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