At every single moment of one's life one is what one is going to be no less than what one has been. I feel as if I want to say I wish I had read Wilde's letter from prison, De Profundis, sooner, but, as one of the themes of the letter, the continuance of the travels and development of your life suggests, I may not have been ready for Wilde's themes of suffering, art and Christ. Not ready because I hadn't suffered in the years before the wars, not ready because I was too blinded by drunkenness to understand myself or to care to understand myself, and, more recently, not ready, because I don't think I was open enough to appreciate Wilde's transition in life and his growth through suffering, as his own transition and growth without trying to transplant my experiences onto his.
Oscar Wilde's De Profundis
Oscar Wilde's De Profundis
Oscar Wilde's De Profundis
At every single moment of one's life one is what one is going to be no less than what one has been. I feel as if I want to say I wish I had read Wilde's letter from prison, De Profundis, sooner, but, as one of the themes of the letter, the continuance of the travels and development of your life suggests, I may not have been ready for Wilde's themes of suffering, art and Christ. Not ready because I hadn't suffered in the years before the wars, not ready because I was too blinded by drunkenness to understand myself or to care to understand myself, and, more recently, not ready, because I don't think I was open enough to appreciate Wilde's transition in life and his growth through suffering, as his own transition and growth without trying to transplant my experiences onto his.