'In all his life [Oscar] has never written me a letter that was unkind
or at least unloving and to see anything terrible in his handwriting
written directly to me would almost kill me.' This was written by Lord
Alfred Douglas in 1897, before the contents of Oscar Wilde's long letter
written in prison and addressed to Douglas, De Profundis, were revealed;
in which Wilde indicted Lord Alfred's vanity and blamed him for his
downfall ‒ 'appetite without distinction, desire without limit, and
formless greed'. Years after Oscar Wilde's death, two of his closest
friends, Lord Alfred Douglas and his literary executor Robert Ross ‒
both former lovers ‒ engaged in a bitter battle over Wilde's legacy and
who was to blame for his downfall and early death. The centrepiece of
the conflict was Ross's handling of Wilde's prison manuscript, De
Profundis. The furious struggle led to stalking, blackmail, witness
tampering, prison, and a series of dramatic lawsuits. The feud had
long-lasting repercussions, not only for the two men, but also for how
we remember Oscar Wilde today. Oscar's Ghost includes previously
unpublished information about one of the most mysterious figures in the
Wilde scandal, Maurice Schwabe, who set in motion the chain of events
that led to the playwright's imprisonment. Ross was systematic, had more
friends, and as Wilde's executor had access to all of Wilde's papers,
including personal letters from Douglas to Wilde; as the controller of
Wilde's copyright, he had sole discretion as to which of Wilde's views
of Douglas could be published. Douglas had a tenacious fighting spirit,
and the sense of entitlement that came with being a lord. This is the
first book to focus on the heated feud and to assess the motivations,
misconceptions, and actions of all parties involved.
