Oscar Wilde

Sam Torode

Written from prison, Out of the Depths is a journey through sorrow, suffering, and despair, ultimately leading to a new vision of hope, love, and beauty. In exquisite yet gut-wrenching prose, Oscar Wilde processes his dramatic fall and public humiliation, and elucidates what he's learned from his descent into the shadow side of life. He also gives a unique, nonreligious interpretation of Jesus Christ, and reflects profoundly on the relationship between art and sorrow. Wilde charts the way through sorrow--not around it. He shows that we have to take responsibility for our lives--owning our own actions as well as the circumstances that are dealt to us--in order to take charge of our futures. "To regret one's own experiences," he says, "is to arrest one's development." If we respond to suffering with love and acceptance instead of hate and bitterness, we will turn it to our benefit--just as nature turns waste and decay into the soil of new life. Wilde teaches us the alchemy by which anguish can be transmuted into empathy and art. Today, with depression and despair afflicting so many--particularly creative and sensitive people--Wilde's reflections are needed more than ever.

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