Chapter 7, Indoctrinating America Summary

Continuing his lecture tour, Oscar encounters an attitude that he is not prepared to confront or control in the form of Archibald Forbes, a journalist who has covered wars and enjoys recounting his own heroism. Forbes attacks Wilde mercilessly, and instead of fighting back with his formidable arsenal of witty replies, Oscar decides to avoid his Baltimore engagement and stays on the train through to Washington. The attacks keep coming regardless of Wilde's attempts to dispel them, with newspapers picking up the bludgeon as well. Henry James finds Wilde especially contemptuous, probably because of James's own latent homosexuality, but in a manner that has become typical of the man, Wilde fails to sense the hostility in James.

For his lecture in Boston, 60 Harvard students attempt to mock Oscar's style, but this fails as he skillfully snatches away their lampooning...