Oscar Wilde's letter to the governor of Reading Gaol (1897)

The famous Irish dandy and author of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde, was imprisoned at Reading Gaol from November 20, 1895, to May 18, 1897 after being found guilty of homosexuality, then punishable as a crime of “gross indecency.” Upon his release, he departed to France, where he lived in exile under the name Sebastian Melmoth for the remainder of his life. 

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