Penguin Classics: De Profundis and Other Writings

‘I feel caught in a terrible net. I don’t know where to turn. I care less when I think that he is thinking of me. I think of nothing else’

‘De Profundis’ is an epistolic account of Oscar Wilde’s spiritual journey while in prison, and describes his conversion from his previous belief in pleasure and decadence to his new, shocking conviction that ‘the supreme vice is shallowness’. This book also includes further letters to his wife, his friends, the Home Secretary and newspaper editors, as well as many to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas – Bosie – himself. ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, written after Wilde’s two year’s hard labour in Reading prison and originally published anonymously, is the heart-rending and eye-opening tale of a man who has been sentenced to hang for the murder of the woman he loved.

Colm Tibn’s introduction explores Wilde’s family background and his success and reputation prior to his scandalous court case. He also examines Wilde’s duality in love, politics and literature, and how his imprisonment affected the perception of his work. This edition also includes notes on the text and suggested further reading.

Edited with an introduction by Colm Tibn