De Profundis

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.3

Word count: 118K words
Chapters: 12

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.De profundis by Oscar WildeAuthor: Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900,Language: Finnish, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 9, 2014

Editor's review

De profundis is the long letter Oscar Wilde wrote to Alfred Douglas from prison, and a major prose work of his late years. The letter combines self-defense, accusation, and reflection, looking back on his former life of pleasure while reexamining suffering, art, and the soul; it is emotionally intense and highly individual in style. This edition is a Finnish translation, a public-domain ebook, and may serve as supplementary material for Wilde studies or for reading epistolary literature. It should not be read as pure autobiography or factual record; note instead how the narrator's emotions and stance shape the text. Readers are advised to learn the basic background of Wilde's imprisonment before entering the text and to feel its tension between ornate rhetoric and painful self-scrutiny. Those unfamiliar with Finnish may use the English original or a Chinese translation alongside it.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary scholars studying Wilde's life and epistolary literature
Enthusiasts of Aestheticism and of writing produced by authors in prison
Readers of foreign literature able to read Finnish
Translation students comparing public-domain translations

Not a good fit for

General readers with no Finnish and no parallel translation
Readers expecting an objective biography or a complete life narrative
Readers who prefer light entertainment and have little patience for the long-letter form

Reading tips

Read a brief introduction to the background of Wilde's imprisonment first to reduce obstacles to understanding.
Read alongside the English original or a Chinese translation, noting how the translation handles rhetoric.
Read in sections and annotate, distinguishing factual statements from emotional expression.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book an autobiography by Wilde?

Not in the strict sense. It is the long letter Wilde wrote to Douglas in prison, with a strong tone of self-defense, accusation, and self-examination, and a clear narrative stance. Readers should read it as epistolary literature rather than as an objective record of his life.

Why is it a Finnish edition?

The record shows the language of this book is Finnish, and it is a public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg. It is one translation of the work, suited to Finnish readers or to researchers comparing translations; readers unfamiliar with Finnish need a parallel translation.

What background should I know before reading?

It is advisable to learn first why Wilde was imprisoned, what his relationship with Douglas was, and what public opinion was at the time. This background helps readers understand the repeated blame, remorse, and self-justification in the letter and avoid reading the text simply as one-sided accusation.

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About the author

Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900 Author

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was an Irish writer known for his plays, fiction, fairy tales and epigrams. The collection here contains 55 of his works, including the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (also appearing as Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray, Le portrait de Dorian Gray and Dorian Grayn muotokuva) and the fairy-tale collection The Happy Prince, and Other Tales. The Picture of Dorian Gray centres on a portrait and its subject's fate, exploring beauty, youth, morality and indulgence through polished dialogue and an aesthetic style; The Happy Prince, and Other Tales uses fairy-tale form to portray sacrifice and compassion in clear, gently ironic prose. Wilde's writing is witty and ornate, marked by paradox and epigram, and his works have long circulated in many languages. Beyond his dates, public information is limited, so no biographical details are conjectured here.