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Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde
When Sir Rupert Hart-Davis's magnificent edition of The Letters of Oscar Wilde was first published in 1962, Cyril Connolly called it "a must for everyone who is seriously interested in the history of English literature - or European morals." From this edition, long out of print, Hart-Davis has culled a representative sample of the letters from each period of Wilde's life, "giving preference," as he says in his Introduction, "to those of literary interest, to the most amusing, and to those that throw light on his life and work." The long letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, known as De Profundis is printed in its entirety.
420 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1979
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148 people want to read
About the author
Oscar Wilde
5,532 books39k followersOscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 16, 2020
I have no doubt that in this letter in which I have to write of your life and of mine, of the past and of the future, of sweet things changed to bitterness and of bitter things that may be turned into joy, there will be much that will wound your vanity to the quick. If it proves so, read the letter over and over again till it kills your vanity.
Watch me use this review as an excuse to quote the whole damn book!
So I've read this mainly because my version of De Profundis was the incomplete one, excised from references to Alfred Douglas (Bosie) and any autobiographical elements. And ever since I stumbled upon pieces of the letter on the internet and had like 50 highlights and notes from the 500 words extract, I've been dying to write a lengthy, lengthy (and very messy, be warned) review about it!
I've only read a selection of letters from this book and some others from the Complete Work of Oscar Wilde and it was mainly the letters to Bosie and let's just say, there is loads to talk about.
I want to preface this by saying, these were letters destined to one person (or two), and for all Wilde's knew, the person would have read it (not even maybe) and threw it and no one else would've known of its existence, and still Wilde is so DAMN EXTRA ABOUT EVERYTHING. The fact that this was not a work to be published_ or even if so, not be benefited from, but just art for art, words written for their sake and the person they were intended for alone, makes it all the more powerful.
Without even starting about the complete letter, but the mere extract of less than a page, and how Wilde managed to capture the character of Bosie and the nature of their relationship, to have depth, ups and downs, and give you some life lessons, no less! Mere 100 lines, I tell you!
I have loved Oscar Wilde as an author: his trivial comedy, his characters, his stories have always appealed to me, but to see this private part of his life, to see that his writing is as sure a part of him as any other part on his body, it's confirmed: Oscar Wilde is My favourite Writer.
Wilde and Bosie had this private friendship that somehow (a very specific 'how', actually) ended up with Wilde going to prison for 2 years. He eventually wrote De Profundis as a long (very) letter to Bosie near the end of his imprisonment due to the lack of correspondence from the latter's side.
"Dear Bosie,
After long and fruitless waiting I have determined to write to you myself, as much for your sake as for mine, as I would not like to think that I had passed through two long years of imprisonment without ever having received a single line from you, or any news or message even, except such as gave me pain.
Our ill-fated and most lamentable friendship has ended in ruin and public infamy for me, yet the memory of our ancient affection is often with me, and the thought that loathing, bitterness and contempt should for ever take that place in my heart once held by love is very sad to me"
This letter was pretty peculiar to me, for, in Wilde's previous letters to Bosie (the published ones at least), he was always sweet and genteel and the letters were filled with endless love. It took me by surprise to read De Profundis. It was as if someone with bottled rage and hurt, who took the worst of a person for the sake of the good moments, had finally had enough. And if that isn't what a toxic relationship is!
It was also Toxic because, as Wilde states, he always gave in to Bosie. In the beginning, it was for simple things that didn't matter, but then (because Habit is a prick) he found himself agreeing to prosecute Bosie's father, Queensberry, for criminal Libel at Bosie's insistence (Since Queensberry was attacking Wilde with homosexuality in public). That one, unimportant at the moment, decision, turned up to be the most fatal.
"But most of all I blame myself for the entire ethical degradation I allowed you to bring on me. The basis of character is will-power, and my will-power became absolutely subject to yours. It sounds a grotesque thing to say, but it is none the less true [..]
And it was inevitable. In every relation of life with others one has to find some moyen de vivre. In your case, one had either to give up to you or to give you up. There was no alternative [..]
I had always thought that my giving up to you in small things meant nothing: that when a great moment arrived I could reassert my will-power in its natural superiority. It was not so. At the great moment my will-power completely failed me. In life there is really no small or great thing. All things are of equal value and of equal size
"
Through the letters, you could also see Bosie's character. Wilde goes to such lengths to detail it for Bosie himself, to make him realise his actions and shallowness.
"Those incessant scenes that seemed to be almost physically necessary to you, and in which your mind and body grew distorted and you became a thing as terrible to look at as to listen to: that dreadful mania you inherit from your father, the mania for writing revolting and loathsome letters: your entire lack of any control over your emotions as displayed in your long resentful moods of sullen silence, no less than in the sudden fits of almost epileptic rage"
"Ah! you had no motives in life. You had appetites merely."
"You demanded without grace and received without thanks"
"In you Hate was always stronger than Love. Your hatred of your father was of such stature that it entirely outstripped, o'erthrew, and overshadowed your love of me"
Another thing, Alfred, through Wilde's letter, felt sort of familiar to me :
"I could have held up a mirror to you, and shown you such an image of yourself that you would not have recognised it as your own till you found it mimicking back your gestures of horror, and then you would have known whose shape it was, and hated it and yourself forever."
Mmm DORIAN GEY, ANYONE???
In conclusion, this is still only Oscar Wilde's side of the story and you can't decide who to blame. De Profundis did sort of start on a note of unexpressed anger and rage, but through the letter, Oscar goes to such moods and through a psychological journey. And this work, truly, feels like words that needed to be out, no less but much much more.
"I don't defend my conduct. I explain it."
"You came to me to learn the Pleasure of Life and the Pleasure of Art. Perhaps I am chosen to teach you something much more wonderful, the meaning of Sorrow, and its beauty.
Your affectionate friend
Oscar Wilde."
March 16, 2021
The story of Oscar Wilde's life spelled out in his letters. In the 19th century letter writing was considered an artform, and Oscar Wilde was the greatest artist of his time. Just ask him. Wilde was head of his class at Oxford and found immediate success in poetry and journalism, becoming almost world famous before the age of 30. Wilde's letters to his friends display a life of total hedonism, filled with reports of scandalous behavior at the Savoy, details of the quality of the pheasant and the wine at dinner, and hats and ties and shoes. Plus intellectual critiques of current writers and their works, sprinkled with references and quotes from St. Francis to Voltaire, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Aristotle, and Keats and Marlowe, often in the original French, Latin, or Greek. Wilde was a true intellectual, and he knew just everybody. He was friends with or corresponded with James Whistler, George Bernard Shaw, and Bram Stoker, who stole his girlfriend. He traveled to America and gave speeches on the British Renaissance and Interior Decorating (not a joke) and spent time with Walt Wittman, Sarah Bernhardt, Lily Langtry, and Jefferson Davis. There he followed the practice of Benjamin Franklin, who when visiting France wore a beaver cap to impress the locals. Wilde made sure to be seen in knee britches with hose, the properly colored tie, and always a buttonhole, preferably a green carnation. The first third of the book covers these letters up until the time he meets Lord Alfred Douglas.
De Profundis. Egads, what a letter! Wilde pours out his soul to his paramour Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie. (All Wilde's friend's had stupid fratboy nicknames) While Wilde's proclivities were not unknown at the time, it wasn't until Douglas' father Lord Queensberry publicly called him out that the public became outraged. Queensberry was a wholly unpleasant fellow who hated his son. His own ex-wife wanted him institutionalized, and he had made himself unpopular through drunkenness and writing public and insulting letters to his other son, who was a Baron and member of the government, also to Prime Minister Gladstone, and to Queen Victoria. Douglas convinced Wilde to sue Queensberry with the result that Wilde ended up bankrupt and sentenced to two years hard labor for the crime of sodomy. In De Produnis Wilde lays into Douglas, blaming him for the calamity of his life, claiming their relationship was toxic, that Douglas was nothing more than a shallow gold-digger. Since he had to examine his finances from previous years in bankruptcy court Wilde is able to list every shilling he spent on Douglas, and that is what he does. He does that for about 20,000 words (literally). After castigating Douglas for 75 pages Wilde turns on himself, admitting that he has some share of the blame and has learned a harsh lesson. Since he spends much of the time comparing himself to Christ on the Cross it is questionable just what lesson he learned. As Xerko of Ork famously stated, "You have taught me humility. Now I have everything!" He does seem really sorry for the wasteful way in which he had spent his life since it detracted from his art, and accepts that his life after prison will necessarily be much meaner than he has been used to.
The last third covers the remainder of Wilde's life, lived in exile. Mostly it's about money. While Wilde did mention his enjoyment of being free, he mentions money in practically every letter written, asking for more, complaining about debtors, and asking people to send him books and ties and gloves and such.
It really is an autobiography in letter form. Wilde starts out at the top and lives a life of opulent foolishness, is stricken low by his own actions, and tries and fails to learn from his mistakes. It's too bad that it happened to him because Oscar Wilde could have made a fantastic play out of the whole thing if it had happened to someone else.
I must mention Wilde's letter to a government official appealing for his release from prison. While the Victorian Age was entertaining, their moral stridency was appalling, and that could not have been made more clear than by this letter. Oscar Wilde is forced to beg to shorten his sentence for the crime of a consensual adult relationship, declare himself suffering from the insanity of homosexuality, and wants to be released so that he may see a German doctor to receive conversion therapy to cure him. Mitigating factors being that being exposed as gay had cost him his reputation, his friends, his health, all his money, the rights to his plays, his marriage, and the right to see his children. He was denied.
De Profundis. Egads, what a letter! Wilde pours out his soul to his paramour Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie. (All Wilde's friend's had stupid fratboy nicknames) While Wilde's proclivities were not unknown at the time, it wasn't until Douglas' father Lord Queensberry publicly called him out that the public became outraged. Queensberry was a wholly unpleasant fellow who hated his son. His own ex-wife wanted him institutionalized, and he had made himself unpopular through drunkenness and writing public and insulting letters to his other son, who was a Baron and member of the government, also to Prime Minister Gladstone, and to Queen Victoria. Douglas convinced Wilde to sue Queensberry with the result that Wilde ended up bankrupt and sentenced to two years hard labor for the crime of sodomy. In De Produnis Wilde lays into Douglas, blaming him for the calamity of his life, claiming their relationship was toxic, that Douglas was nothing more than a shallow gold-digger. Since he had to examine his finances from previous years in bankruptcy court Wilde is able to list every shilling he spent on Douglas, and that is what he does. He does that for about 20,000 words (literally). After castigating Douglas for 75 pages Wilde turns on himself, admitting that he has some share of the blame and has learned a harsh lesson. Since he spends much of the time comparing himself to Christ on the Cross it is questionable just what lesson he learned. As Xerko of Ork famously stated, "You have taught me humility. Now I have everything!" He does seem really sorry for the wasteful way in which he had spent his life since it detracted from his art, and accepts that his life after prison will necessarily be much meaner than he has been used to.
The last third covers the remainder of Wilde's life, lived in exile. Mostly it's about money. While Wilde did mention his enjoyment of being free, he mentions money in practically every letter written, asking for more, complaining about debtors, and asking people to send him books and ties and gloves and such.
It really is an autobiography in letter form. Wilde starts out at the top and lives a life of opulent foolishness, is stricken low by his own actions, and tries and fails to learn from his mistakes. It's too bad that it happened to him because Oscar Wilde could have made a fantastic play out of the whole thing if it had happened to someone else.
I must mention Wilde's letter to a government official appealing for his release from prison. While the Victorian Age was entertaining, their moral stridency was appalling, and that could not have been made more clear than by this letter. Oscar Wilde is forced to beg to shorten his sentence for the crime of a consensual adult relationship, declare himself suffering from the insanity of homosexuality, and wants to be released so that he may see a German doctor to receive conversion therapy to cure him. Mitigating factors being that being exposed as gay had cost him his reputation, his friends, his health, all his money, the rights to his plays, his marriage, and the right to see his children. He was denied.
June 5, 2022
For over three months now, this book has been my companion. Although it’s a very slow read and, at times, boring, I had no problem taking my time with it. In fact, I read most of the margin notes and even did some extra research!
Many of these letters were very interesting. Wilde’s aesthetic school is evident in his remarks and descriptions. I found his discussions of literature, art, architecture, and fashion very interesting.
It’d be safe to say that this is the most personal book I’ve ever read. After all, is there anything more personal than a person’s letters, which are unintended for an audience? I really do feel that I know who Oscar Wilde is, intimately so.
As for his character, he inspired so many feelings in me from fascination and sympathy to anger and frustration.
Overall, I’m so glad I’ve read this as an Oscar Wilde fan. Except for the French letters that he didn’t translate, Rupert Hart-Davis did a wonderful job putting this book together and doing intense research to provide context to the letters.
Many of these letters were very interesting. Wilde’s aesthetic school is evident in his remarks and descriptions. I found his discussions of literature, art, architecture, and fashion very interesting.
It’d be safe to say that this is the most personal book I’ve ever read. After all, is there anything more personal than a person’s letters, which are unintended for an audience? I really do feel that I know who Oscar Wilde is, intimately so.
As for his character, he inspired so many feelings in me from fascination and sympathy to anger and frustration.
Overall, I’m so glad I’ve read this as an Oscar Wilde fan. Except for the French letters that he didn’t translate, Rupert Hart-Davis did a wonderful job putting this book together and doing intense research to provide context to the letters.
January 7, 2023
It happens sometimes that letters like that tell you more than you wanted to know - or perhaps you knew, or suspected, but didn't really want to acknolwedge.
These start early in Wilde's life, and in the beginning it's everything we expect. But then the tone changes (as anyone who's read his Goal of Reading poem will know), and here it's a lot of self-pity, a lot of abasing himself, a lot of complaining about money (due, owed), recriminations, attacking friends and foes alike, and this constant delusion until the end. Endless pages to Bosie, endless final-separation letters, endless reconciliations, and the final years/months, still under Bosie's influence, still marred by poverty, with a last dance that never rings true. Sad, sad Wilde.
These start early in Wilde's life, and in the beginning it's everything we expect. But then the tone changes (as anyone who's read his Goal of Reading poem will know), and here it's a lot of self-pity, a lot of abasing himself, a lot of complaining about money (due, owed), recriminations, attacking friends and foes alike, and this constant delusion until the end. Endless pages to Bosie, endless final-separation letters, endless reconciliations, and the final years/months, still under Bosie's influence, still marred by poverty, with a last dance that never rings true. Sad, sad Wilde.
March 14, 2016
From the thank-you note of a teenage public schoolboy thanking his mother for sending him a food hamper to the final, desperate plea for owed money from a dingy Paris hotel, Rupert Hart-Davis' meticulous editing has fashioned together a portrait of the artist in development from the height of popularity to downfall and disgrace. And yes, there's plenty of that famous wit to enjoy.
March 2, 2025
Oscar Wilde was a combination of kindness, arrogance, genius and gullibility, etc. It was lovely to read his letters.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews