De Profundis

Written in Reading Gaol in the first months of 1897, De Profundis is a very long letter from Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas, the young man whose quarrel with his father led to Wilde's trial and two years' hard labour. It begins as a bitter account of their friendship, then becomes a meditation on suffering, humility, art and the figure of Christ.

The title comes from Psalm 130, 'Out of the depths'. A shortened version appeared in 1905, after Wilde's death, and the full text was only published in 1962. It is the most personal thing Wilde wrote, and reading it after The Picture of Dorian Gray is a startling experience.

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was born in Dublin, studied classics at Trinity College and Oxford, and became the most quotable man in London, the leading voice of the movement that preached art for art's sake. Between 1892 and 1895 his comedies filled the theatres, and his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, caused a sensation.

At the height of his fame he was convicted for his relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas and sentenced to two years of hard labour, an experience he wrote about in De Profundis. He died in exile in Paris, poor and broken, at forty-six. The Importance of Being Earnest remains one of the funniest plays in English.