Writers I wish I could have known . . .

Like millions of other people, I wish I could known Oscar Wilde. I would have been a devoted fan even then, following his exploits. Imagine my surprise to learn his gravesite is considered one of the "germiest" tourist attractions on the planet. He would have snorted at this, no doubt, and laughed.

Wilde, who died in 1900 from cerebral meningitis after a botched operation for an ear problem, continues to be a celebrated literary figure today famous for his tabooed sexuality at the time and his novels such as "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Oscar Wilde is buried is in Paris. His body rests in a tomb speckled with lipstick marks from visitors from all over the world showing their literary appreciation. The kisses display a rainbow of colors -- so much so that travel experts say Oscar Wilde's name on the tomb can be hard to discern. One traveler wrote after visiting the grave, "The tombstone of Oscar Wilde is ... well, wild, excuse the pun."
Someday, I will visit Paris and his tomb, and I plan to leave my lipstick marks right there with all the others, germs and all.
Have any of you kissed Oscar's tombstone? What other great literary figures would have like to have met?

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