EagleEye

Foss Presents Research on Play Purportedly Written by Oscar Wilde’s Ghost

Professor of English Chris Foss presented the paper “Ghost Writing with Wilde (and Its Revelations)” at the 2026 International Nineteenth-Century Studies Association Conference, held July 24 in Washington, D.C.

Foss examined Is It a Forgery?, a “posthumous” play that psychic medium Hester Travers Smith claimed Oscar Wilde’s ghost dictated to her during dozens of seance sessions in 1924. His paper explored what makes writing recognizably “Wildean” and the extent to which the play reflects Wilde’s distinctive voice and style.