OSCAR Wilde was the one of the Victorian era's greatest literary entertainers, and his popularity has proved so enduring that it thrives even in 2007. The Anglo-Irish poet, playwright and novelist was yesterday voted the UK's wittiest person of all time in a poll conducted by a digital TV channel, which just goes to show that television has not yet made philistines of us all (even though Jeremy Clarkson came in at No 4 on the list). We celebrate Oscar for his epigrammatic wit, his polished plays and, above all, his originality. The man who reputedly told New York customs officials that "I have nothing to declare but my genius" holds a place in the popular imagination as a one-off, a maverick visionary who arrived on the scene fully formed to thrill and scandalise in equal measure.
But the truth, it has been revealed, is rather different. Whatever Wilde's talents were, originality was not one of them. "Wilde is known for being this big, very original personality," says Dr Michèle Mendelssohn, a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. "But that personality came about by attaching himself to other people, being a sycophant and getting enough of these people until he could do his own thing. We allow Wilde the licence to be a plagiarist, but if any one of my students did this sort of thing - my God!"
http://living.scotsman.com/books.cfm?id=1648862007
interesting article—particularly wilde's apparent fixation on james and whistler.