Wilde, Classicism, and Homosexuality in Modern Ireland

This chapter explores how Irish writers since Oscar Wilde have invoked Hellenism when faced with public exposure of their homosexuality. Wilde is seen both as a dissident against England and, for gay writers, a champion and liberator. For James Joyce, Wilde was a figure of defiance and a fellow exile. Patrick Pearse never mentions Wilde, but seems to have been drawn to his sensibility in the parallels he suggests between ancient Greek and Irish masculinity. The writings of Brendan Behan are no less permeated by Wilde’s Hellenism. Following the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland, affiliation with Wilde could be openly acknowledged, as in Jamie O’Neill’s At Swim, Two Boys (2001), where Wilde is an iconic symbol of both homosexuality and patriotic rebellion. Controversy has been reframed, however, through media associations of Hellenism with paedophilia, and has embroiled politician David Norris and Irish-language poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh.