Was that disapproval expressed to the editor?
Yes.
Oscar Wilde was then cross-examined by Mr. Carson for the defence.
You read “The Priest and the Acolyte”?
Yes.
You have no doubt that that was an improper story?
From the literary point of view it was highly improper. It is
impossible for a man of literature to judge it otherwise, by
literature meaning treatment, selection of subject, and the like.
I thought the treatment rotten and the subject rotten.
You are of opinion, I believe, that there is no such thing as an
immoral book?
Yes.
May I take it that you think “The Priest and the Acolyte” was not
immoral?
It was worse; it was badly written.
Was not the story that of a priest who fell in love with a boy who
served him at the altar, and the boy was discovered in the priest’s
room, and a scandal arose?
I have read it only once, in November last, and nothing will induce
me to read it again.
Did you think the story blasphemous?