http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/34859743

Robbie Ross : Oscar Wilde's devoted friend

Robert Baldwin Ross, the man who sat at Oscar Wilde's deathbed and unfailingly defended his reputation, had become a pivotal figure in London's literary and artistic circles by his early twenties. He had also disclosed his homosexuality to his family and had seduced flamboyant Irish wit and playwright Wilde. Unlike Wilde, however, Ross managed to live his life openly even as he placed himself firmly within the London establishment as a writer, critic, and art dealer, not to mention as a frequent guest at 10 Downing Street. How he did it, in an era when disgrace and imprisonment were the order of the day for sexual 'inversion', makes a compelling narrative of moral courage and personal integrity. When all of England condemned Wilde, Ross stood by his mentor and later served as his literary executor. Ross later assisted young literary figures like Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Osbert Sitwell, and Robert Graves during the World War I years. This book illuminates the changing attitudes and social mores that brought late Victorian and Edwardian London into modern times.--From publisher description.

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