"The American Invasion," was an essay published to The Court and Society Review anonymously but is assumed to be from Oscar Wilde given the time period it was published, and the events he included in the essay. The essay itself includes his general impressions of the country, how he viewed the big cities and the people themselves. Overall the essays makes America out to be fairly boring, filled with failing attempts to seem lively or luxurious but ultimately flat and lacking substance. 

This essay is important in reference to "The Canterville Ghost," as it was published a few weeks prior possibly to get consumers thinking about these ideas prior to reading the story, or helping set the story up for its overall context of America being a lackluster recreation of Europe (he even describes the women as dressing similar to that in Paris, but not the matching attitude). The essay also enlightens us on Wildes's view of the country, which explains why he chooses to portray characters the way he does and the dynamics of the story (the American family being materialistic and the European characters/ the ghost being rooted in the history and culture). 

The photo I've included is a photo of Oscar Wilde himself, one of a series of portraits taken of him during his stay in America. The photographer, Napoleon Sarony, thought he was a great subject matter to photograph and took the majority of his portraits.