[fantasyfan]

I feel that in the second story "The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation" the two characters; Wimpole and Sir Walter Cholmondeliegh dramatise two aspects of Oscar Wilde. Wimpole sports a ridiculous hat which he apparently regards as the height of fashion, a similar--if milder--parody of Wilde that we see in Bunthorne, the character created by Gilbert and Sullivan in Patience. On another level, Wimpole has the appearance of wit while having none and Cholmondeliegh appears to be a dunce but actually is the source of the wit, This could reflect the double identity used by Wilde--his tendency to use his wit as weapon and mask.

The Club of Queer Trades was published only five years after the death of the Irish dramatist and his tragic career would be still fresh in the memory. And it worth mentioning that Chesterton, despite his conservatism had some sympathy and compassion for Oscar Wilde in that the latter was clearly a victim of social hypocrisy. He wrote the following in 1906 regarding Wilde's position concerning the separation of Morality and Art:

"We feted and flattered Wilde because he preached such an attitude, then broke his heart in penal servitude because he carried it out."