Editing Natalie Clifford Barney (section)

===Dolly Wilde===

Dolly Wilde was the niece of [[Oscar Wilde]] and the last of her family to bear the Wilde name.  She was renowned for her epigrammatic wit but, unlike her famous uncle, never managed to apply her gifts to any publishable writing; her letters are her only legacy.  She did some work as a translator and was often supported by others, including Barney, whom she met in 1927.{{sfn|Schenkar|2000|pp=7–14, 359}}

[[File:Dorothywilde.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.9|Dolly Wilde in 1925]]

Barney's support of Wilde included occasional permission to stay for a few weeks at Rue Jacob. Brooks' disapproval of the relationship increased over the years, aggravated by Wilde's presence in Barney's home. Wilde, the only of Barney's loves to share her enthusiastic rejection of monogamy,{{sfn|Jay|1988|p=32}} strove conscientiously but futilely for Brooks' favor. This culminated in Brooks' ultimatum, delivered in 1931, in which she described Wilde as a rat "gnawing at the very foundation of our friendship".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=280, 299}} Barney chose Brooks and separated from Wilde; Brooks later allowed Wilde to return and became less critical of Wilde's ways.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=300–301}}

Like Vivien, Wilde was intensely self-destructive and struggled deeply with mental illness. She attempted suicide several times, and spent much of her life addicted to alcohol and heroin. Barney, a vocal opponent of drug use and alcoholism, financed [[drug detoxification]]s several times; to no avail. Wilde even emerged from one nursing-home stay with a new dependency on the sleeping draught [[paraldehyde]], then available over-the-counter.{{sfn|Schenkar|2000|pp=280–293}}

In 1939, she was diagnosed with [[breast cancer]] and refused surgery, seeking alternative treatments.{{sfn|Schenkar|2000|p=269}} The following year, [[World War II]] separated her from Barney; she fled Paris for England while Barney went to Italy with Brooks.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|p=318}} She died in 1941 from causes never fully explained; with one of the most common speculations being a paraldehyde overdose.{{sfn|Schenkar|2000|pp=37–48}} Her will, written in 1932, named Barney as her only heir.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2002|pp=323–324}}