Book 12 - De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

Reading date - May 2020

It is no secret that I am a massive Oscar Wilde fan girl.  I fell in love with him the first time I read The Picture of Dorian Gray and to this day, it remains my favourite of all his work.  There are so many phrases in that book that resonate with me...

Oscar Wilde was a homosexual..and when things turned sour, his boyfriend got his dad involved which resulted in Oscar being put on trial for (and convicted of) gross indecency.

De Profundis is a love letter which I read over and over again because it is beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measure.  It was written by Oscar to the aforementioned boyfriend Lord Alfred Douglas, who he called Bosie.  Bosie's dad came up with the Queensberry Rules, the rules that govern modern day boxing, in case you wanted to know.  The letter was one of those letters you write to get your feelings out but you never intend to send.  One of the prison guards decided that it would be better for Oscar to write this letter than it would be for him to do more manual labour, so he got to writing.  

Oscar left prison and was given the letter.  He gave it to a friend (and also ex lover) who kept hold of it.  Oscar pops his clogs and his mate publishes the letter.  Took a few years before the full version came out.

This is free on kindle so you've got no excuse to not read it!

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