Book Description
De Profundis is a poignant letter by Oscar Wilde, blending autobiography and philosophy. Written during his imprisonment, this work is a profound exploration of love, suffering, and redemption, showcasing Wilde’s literary genius and emotional depth.
In De Profundis, Wilde reflects on his life, particularly his turbulent relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, whom he loved deeply. The narrative unfolds in the context of his imprisonment, where he grapples with pain and betrayal. Wilde delves into themes of suffering, artistic expression, and spiritual growth, expressing how love can lead both to joy and despair. He ultimately finds clarity and wisdom through his trials, emphasizing the transformative power of suffering. The letter is not only a personal confession but also a universal meditation on the human experience, making it a significant work in Wilde’s oeuvre and 19th-century literature.
Excerpt from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it by seasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return. With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems to circle round one centre of pain. The paralysing immobility of a life every circumstance of which is regulated after an unchangeable pattern, so that we eat and drink and lie down and pray, or kneel at least for prayer, according to the inflexible laws of an iron formula: this immobile quality, that makes each dreadful day in the very minutest detail like its brother, seems to communicate itself to those external forces the very essence of whose existence is ceaseless change.
Of seed-time or harvest, of the reapers bending over the corn, or the grape gatherers threading through the vines, of the grass in the orchard made white with broken blossoms or strewn with fallen fruit: of these we know nothing and can know nothing.
