All's forgiven. Oscar Wilde is back in public, larger than life, in the heart of London's theater district. A century after the trial that crushed and jailed the Irish playwright for a homosexual affair, Wilde's great-grandson, 19-year-old Lucian Holland, unveiled a 9-foot-long monument to him last week.
Created by Maggi Hambling, titled "A Conversation with Oscar Wilde" and situated near Trafalgar Square, the statue depicts Wilde in bronze rising from a granite sarcophagus that forms a seat where passers-by may sit.The inscription reads, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." At the unveiling, Culture Secretary Chris Smith said, "It's due to Oscar Wilde in many ways that we today can celebrate a society that generally appreciates diversity."