De Profundis

Written from Reading Gaol, where Oscar Wilde was serving two years' hard labour after his catastrophic trials, De Profundis is a long letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, the beautiful, careless young man Wilde blames for his ruin and cannot stop addressing. It begins in reproach, itemizing the extravagance and cruelty of their years together, and then turns into something much stranger and greater: a meditation on suffering, humility, art, and Christ as the supreme romantic artist.

This is Wilde with the wit intact but the armour gone. The man who claimed to put his genius into his life rather than his work here examines what remains when the life is destroyed. Short enough to hear in a single sitting, it is one of the most piercing things he ever wrote, a public performer finally speaking, as the title says, out of the depths.

At roughly 19,300 words, De Profundis runs about 2 hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

De Profundis is in the public domain, so the complete text is free on Project Gutenberg and LoudReader has the entire Project Gutenberg catalog built in. To listen:

1. Download LoudReader for Mac or iPhone (free, no account).
2. Search for “De Profundis” in the built-in catalog and add it to your library.
3. Press play. A natural offline voice reads the book while each word highlights on screen, and your place is saved between sessions.

LoudReader reads with natural offline voices, so the whole book works on a plane or underground. It is fully on-device and private, your library never leaves your device. Listening is unlimited on the free tier.