Book Review: De Profundis

Oscar Wilde at his sassiest.

While I have a degree in English, I admit that I am not as well-read as I would like to be. I had never read any Oscar Wilde before picking up De Profundis, which I discovered through this youtube video from Anaïs Laure, who can also be found here on Substack.

I’d been meaning to pick up Dorian Gray for the better part of 2024, but it just kept slipping my mind. Although, the one time i did try to put a hold on it through the library, there was a queue of 100+ people ahead of me with only two copies floating around. I like to think this means the gay population of Las Vegas is at astronomical levels (and still rising). But that’s besides the point.

De Profundis is one of the most profound examples there are — at least to me — of tough love. Oscar Wilde navigates his heartache, his grief, his trauma, and his anger with incredible poise — more than I would be able to for sure. Not once is he disrespectful or cold to this person who has put him through incredible amounts of pain and ruin. While there are definitely times he throws shade, it is never in a way that is unnecessarily rude or uncalled for. He keeps his head high, he takes accountability for the areas in which he is to blame for his current position, and urges the recipient of the letter, Lord Alfred Douglas, to be a better man — if not for the sake of those around him then at least for his own.

“Had you been in prison…do you think that I would have allowed you to eat your heart away in darkness and solitude without trying in some way, however slight, to help you to bear the bitter burden of your disgrace?”

A part of the book that stood out to me the most was the pages in which Oscar Wilde explains the nature of Christ and how Christ is a physical embodiment of Love. This directly corresponds to my understanding of Christ and it felt so interesting to me to see someone from centuries ago come to the same conclusion I have in my twenties. I enjoyed the references to certain parables I am familiar with and the analysis of them from a more metaphysical or spiritual point of view. A specific line that stood out to me was

“…there were Christians before Christ. For that we should be grateful. The unfortunate thing is that there have been none since.”

I find it so interesting to find things that I have either said or thought almost directly quoted by an author who was alive centuries before I was even thought of. It comforts me that these sentiments are ones that have always existed, like maybe this century will be the one where these concepts are realized on a grander scale. This kind of self awareness is needed by society; maybe we would all get along a little better.

“Christ had no patience with the dull lifeless mechanical systems that treat people as if they were things, and so treat everybody alike: as if anybody, or anything for that matter, was like aught else in the world.”

Another thing I have always said is that living a “christlike” life means to be living with love. When you lead and live with love is when you are closer to the Divine. Wilde echos this sentiment by saying

“Most people live for love and admiration. But it is by love and admiration that we should live.”

This is also something that is echoed in Buddhism as well: when you do kind things with the intention of receiving good karma, it makes the action spurious — you were not trying to be a good person, you just wanted the reward for being kind; you are not truly living by love and admiration, you are living for the love and admiration you are expecting for good deeds.

Overall, I looooooved this book so much. There are so many gems throughout and I had mhy pen and sticky notes on standby the whole time I was reading. I am so happy I finally got into my Gay King Oscar Wilde and I can’t wait to actually pick up Dorian Gray.

Also…happy belated St. Patty’s day to Oscar Wilde. Hope he had a drink up there.

My next read is Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion by Bushra Rehman.

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