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De profundis oscar7/8/2023 ![]() 3 Wilde himself viewed his work through this lens, writing of his suffering as “a fresh mode of self-realisation.” 4 His account offers a unique point of view from which to probe the depths of mental suffering. It is an externalization of ideas, an interpretation of the narrator’s lived experiences. The narration of illness, or indeed any embodied experience, is more than a journal. His narration parallels, in many ways, the story of one experiencing an illness: forces beyond his control have isolated him and preyed upon his body and mind. Though much of De Profundis is a reflection on his life before prison, Wilde weaves in commentary on his mental suffering in being separated from all he held dear. As “a man who stood in symbolic relations to the art and culture of age,” 2 Wilde could not allow his mental trials to pass without seeking a new self from the ashes of his grief. Perhaps most striking is how the letter serves as a prose rhapsody on the nature of mental anguish – an individual reflection on the intersection of physical and psychological suffering. Finally granted permission to write, over a period of three months he produced De Profundis, an eclectic document that ranges from a narrative of his imprisonment to philosophical discourse. ![]() Imprisoned for a relationship that was criminalized by the government of his time, in 1897 Oscar Wilde had spent two years in jail. “There is only one season, the season of sorrow.” 1 ![]() De Profundis: Oscar Wilde’s narrative of mental anguish February 7, 2022 ![]()
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