De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
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What is the significance of Oscar Wilde's De Profundis?
Hello, it's Andy.
Hi, it's Nicky.
Welcome to Backlisted, one of our rerun episodes from our archive. This time it's De Profundis by Oscar Wilde with our guest Stephen Fry.
Is he Sir Stephen Fry?
Yeah, he is Sir Stephen Fry. I'm not sure whether he was Sir Stephen Fry when we recorded this.
No. It was just Steve.
Yeah, that's right. I remember. This is one of my favourite episodes from our Batlist because it's about one of my favourite books, not just from our Batlist, but from my reading of the last however many years. And... It was one of those occasions, Nicky, where it felt like a privilege to have the opportunity to discuss one of my favourite pieces of writing with somebody so expert and invested in the subject of Oscar Wilde and of De Profundis. And I think when you listen back, at about the 10-minute mark, you can hear Sir Stephen saying, really begin to engage with the conversation.
Yes, he realises that all of a sudden these guys are, they're also as deep book nerds as he is. You know, it was like, oh, okay, it's this kind of a conversation.
Yeah, it was a really fantastic feeling to bring this particular book and author to Sir Stephen Fry and know within 10 minutes that we were doing okay. So that's what I remember, nothing but good things.
Yeah, it's lovely. It's a lovely show and everybody, yeah, it's a delight. I think you'll all enjoy it.
I would just reiterate that if you're planning to read De Profundis by Oscar Wilde, I can recommend two specific ways of doing so. The audiobook read by Simon Russell Beale is absolutely superb and, in my opinion... One of my favourite audiobooks, one I actually listen to several times now just for the pleasure of listening to Simon Russell Beale bite into it. And the other way is we, I think we recommend on this episode the edition of Wilde's Prison Writings edited by Colm Tobin. I would say that again, if you have the opportunity to pick that up, that is the... contextual material which really works soulfully with the original letter by Wilde.
Fabulous.
So that was the past, Nicky. But the future, tell me about the future.
Yeah, we're doing some great shows for our subscribers at the moment, for our Patreon subscribers. If you would like to hear our Booker Prize winning show, we're focusing on a different Booker Prize winning book each month.
Yeah, we haven't won the book before.
No, we haven't yet. The last show we did is available on our Patreon platform. It's Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald. Warmly received. Fantastic book about a family living on a houseboat in the Thames.
How did Stephen Fry's relationship with Wilde influence his perspective?
That's available there. And actually, our next show, which will be up on May the 2nd, is Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. And that's one of our backlisted readers shows. Also on a boat.
Yes, it's all boats. So we beat on boats against the current, etc. That was a really good conversation about Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat. I was lucky enough to be part of that. So that's coming up when? On May the 2nd?
That's coming up on May the 2nd. Again, you can get that if you go to patreon.com forward slash backlisted. And actually, if you want to read along to our Booker show, which we're calling Posh Bingo... The next book that we're reading is Profit Song from 2023 by Paul Lynch. And that will be on. May the 11th. I was actually doing a live show on that. So again, you need to be a subscriber for that. So yeah, three great shows. We've got two coming up, Three Men in a Boat and Profit Song, and one's up there already, Penelope Fitzgerald's Offshore.
And just to say, we don't choose the Booker Prize winners to discuss. The name comes out of a biscuit tin. And so at the end of the discussion of Profit Song by Paul Lynch on May the 11th, we will choose... or the tin we'll choose for us, the book we'll be reading in June. I will hand you over now to Sir Stephen Fry and two young whippersnappers. Enjoy the show.
Have you seen where your earphones are, where they're plugged in? Should be here.
Oh, yeah, there's a light there, Andy. Plug it where the light is.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the significance of Oscar Wilde's De Profundis?
0:00–3:12
2
How did Stephen Fry's relationship with Wilde influence his perspective?
3:12–6:56
3
What are the historical contexts surrounding the publication of De Profundis?
6:56–12:06
4
How does Wilde's writing reflect his views on love and suffering?
12:06–16:46
5
What philosophical themes are explored in De Profundis?
16:46–23:24
6
How does Wilde critique Victorian morality in his letter?
23:24–27:43
7
What parallels can be drawn between Wilde's life and his literary work?
27:43–33:47
8
What lasting impact has De Profundis had on modern literature?
33:47–1:17:33