De Profundis

While imprisoned, Wilde wrote this long letter of recrimination to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. It offers fascinating insights into Wilde's life in prison and the background and psychology of a notorious affair.

The ever-quotable Oscar Wilde once said, "Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it." From his outsize celebrity in Victorian London to his authorship of fiction, drama, and poetry that uniquely captured his era, it's fair to say that Wilde succeeded on both counts.