In January 1882, before he wrote “The Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray, or any of the great works for which we honor him today,” Oscar Wilde went on a tour throughout the United States, lecturing about interior decorating, craft-making, and home aesthetics. In Washington, Henry James, always envious of the young writer’s fame, success, and blatant self-promotion, met Wilde at a party among the elite: David M. Friedman writes for The New Republic about exactly what happened.
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