Volume 2, Number 6 · April 30, 1964
In Lord Alfred's Camp
By Richard Ellmann
Bosie
by Rupert Croft-Cooke
Bobbs-Merrill, 416 pp., $7.50
By calling his biography Bosie, a nickname derived from Boysie, Mr. Croft-Cooke implies both his friendship for Lord Alfred Douglas and his indulgent recognition of a lifelong callousness in behavior. The very indefensibility of so much of Douglas's conduct has drawn defenders to him, and Mr. Croft-Cooke's book is the most informed and ambitious attempt at partial habilitation. He has had the aid of the fine Rupert Hart-Davis edition of Wilde's letters, and has seen a good deal of Douglas's own correspondence, most of which he mercifully refrains from quoting. As a result he is able to give a more circumstantial account of the friendship of Douglas and Wilde than has previously been possible.
Review, 1076 words
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