"Have you ever learned how wonderful a thing pity is? For my part I thank God every night, yes, on my knees I thank God for having taught it to me. I went into prison with a heart of stone, thinking only of my own pleasure, but now my heart is utterly broken-pity has entered into my heart. I have learned now that pity is the greatest and most beautiful thing in the world. And that is why I cannot bear ill-will towards those who caused my suffering and those who condemned me; no, nor to any one, because without them I should not have known all that." - Oscar Wilde to André Gide ............. Andre Gide presents his remembrances and candid impressions of Wilde the person and the writer, focusing on the changes he observed in his friend once Wilde settled in France after his release from Reading Jail. In prison, we learn, Wilde discovered the beauty of pity through his friendships with fellow inmates. At the end of Gide's last meeting with Wilde in Paris shortly before Wilde's death, Wilde admits he is penniless and asks Gide not to be angry with "one who has been crushed." This volume also contains a complete version of Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, written about his experiences. Stuart Mason provides an introduction, notes, and bibliography. Editor Michael Wilson adds photographs and commentary.
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Watersgreen House is an independent international book publisher with editorial staff in the UK and USA. One of our aims at Watersgreen House is to showcase same-sex affection in works by important gay and bisexual authors in ways which were not possible at the time the books were originally published. We also publish nonfiction, including textbooks, as well as contemporary fiction that is literary, unusual, and provocative. watersgreen.wixsite.com/watersgreenhouse
