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A review by emilymknight
De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
A must-read. As he tries to make sense of his prison sentence and poor treatment from Lord Alfred Douglas, he fights between wanting 'Bosie' to know how much he hurt him and ruined his life, while also wanting to choose peace and turn his prison sentence into something he can look back on as a positive turning point in his life.
As far as letters go this was surprisingly very easy to read and extremely compelling. His way with words is just unmatched and the way he crafts every sentence and every idea with such emotion and weaves in literary references so flawlessly is a testament to how insanely talented and complex of an artist he is.
As far as letters go this was surprisingly very easy to read and extremely compelling. His way with words is just unmatched and the way he crafts every sentence and every idea with such emotion and weaves in literary references so flawlessly is a testament to how insanely talented and complex of an artist he is.
"After my terrible sentence, when the prison-dress was on me, and the prison-house closed, I sat amidst the ruins of my wonderful life, crushed by anguish, bewildered with terror, dazed through pain. But I would not hate you. Every day I said to myself, 'I must keep Love in my heart today, else how shall I live through the day?'"
"But while there were times when I rejoiced in the idea that my sufferings were to be endless, I could not bear them to be without meaning. Now I find hidden away in my nature something that tells me that nothing in the whole world is meaningless, and suffering least of all."
"Now it seems to me that Love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in the world."
"I have said that behind Sorrow there is always Sorrow. It were still wiser to say that behind sorrow there is always a soul. And to mock at a soul in pain is a dreadful thing."