Resenhas - De Profundis, The Ballad of Reading Gaol & Other Writings

Jairo.Escudero 10/04/2013

A very introspective account of a small but poignant fraction of Wilde's life.
To those who are not familiar with Oscar Wilde, you should know that he was imprisoned for the crime of sodomy after a long and drawn out legal battle against Bosie's father, the Marquis of Queensbury, whom Wilde sued for libel. Obviously, Wilde lost, went bankrupt in the process, and spent two years in prison. De Profundis is his letter written from prison to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, the above mentioned "Bosie."

At the beginning of the letter, Wilde is bitter and condemning of Alfred, in spite of saying he forgives him for all that he did to cause Wilde's ill fate. To be honest, in this initial passage he really sounds like a scorned lover, ranting about the lack of attention and disregard that he suffered in the time he spent with Bosie. Theses accusations continue throughout, but he soon does step into a very deep analysis of his own part in his demise, a soul searching that brings up many philosophical considerations about Love, Hate, Suffering, Sorrow, Humility, and shallowness ("The supreme vice is shallowness." is repeated many times during his account), and comes upon many universal truths.

When describing his and Bosie's time together, one cannot help but notice from where the inspiration for "The Picture of Dorian Gray" came. The incessant quest for worldly pleasures, and the disregard for morality and the law were all part of his real life with Alfred. When describing his Art, he is not at all modest, considering himself an adored genius of the Letters. Though, ironically, when he is being the least modest he is actually talking about how he discovered Humility.

A very interesting read, and yet another proof that he indeed was a genius of Letters; a genius who wrote the following about the Art of writing… "Language requires to be tuned, like a violin: and just as too many or too few vibrations in the voice of the singer or the trembling of the string will make the note false, so too much or too little in words will spoil the message."