De Profundis (Dover Thrift Editions) - Softcover

Oscar Wilde

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486293084 ISBN 13: 9780486293080

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2011

Synopsis

Renowned as a wit, poet, dramatist and one of the great conversationalists of his age, Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) nevertheless fell victim to the forces of repression and prudery in late Victorian England. As a result of his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde was found guilty of homosexual offenses and jailed for two years.
While in prison, he wrote De Profundis, a long and bitter letter of recrimination addressed to Douglas. In it, he accuses Douglas of shallowness, selfishness, greed, gross interference with his [Wilde's] artistic efforts and other faults and wrongdoing. Nevertheless, it is clear from this letter that Wilde deeply loved Douglas and still harbored strong feelings for him, in spite of Douglas' role in Wilde's downfall. While the letter is a touching cri de coeur that offers fascinating insights into Wilde's life in prison and the background and psychology of a notorious affair, its eloquence, passion, and literary excellence raise it above the level of the purely personal. Instead, it becomes a universal statement about love, injustice and the pain of living in the world.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Written from Wilde's prison cell at Reading Gaol to his friend and lover Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis explodes the conventions of the traditional love letter and offers a scathing indictment of Douglas's behavior, a mournful elegy for Wilde's own lost greatness, and an impassioned plea for reconciliation. At once a bracingly honest account of ruinous attachment and a profound meditation on human suffering, De Profundis is a classic of gay literature. Richard Ellmann calls De Profundis "a love letter...One of the greatest, and the longest, ever written."


This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition contains newly commissioned notes.

From the Back Cover:

"Displays the insight, honesty, and unself-conscious style of a great writer."
--W. H. Auden

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0486293084
• ISBN 13: 9780486293080
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 96