304 pages
Published April 11, 2011 by Belknap Press.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, prior to publication the magazine's editor deleted roughly five hundred words without Wilde's knowledge. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year. The longer and revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray published in book form in 1891 featured an aphoristic preface—a defence of the artist's rights and of art for art's sake—based in part …
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Fearing the story was indecent, prior to publication the magazine's editor deleted roughly five hundred words without Wilde's knowledge. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally made excisions of some of the most controversial material when revising and lengthening the story for book publication the following year. The longer and revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray published in book form in 1891 featured an aphoristic preface—a defence of the artist's rights and of art for art's sake—based in part on his press defences of the novel the previous year. The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own right, as a literary and artistic manifesto. In April 1891, the publishing firm of Ward, Lock and Company, who had distributed the shorter, more inflammatory, magazine version in England the previous year, published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel written by Wilde. It exists in several versions: the 1890 magazine edition (in 13 chapters), with important material deleted before publication by the magazine's editor, J. M. Stoddart; the "uncensored" version submitted to Lippincott's Monthly Magazine for publication (also in 13 chapters), with all of Wilde's original material intact, first published in 2011 by Harvard University Press; and the 1891 book edition (in 20 chapters). As literature of the 19th century, The Picture of Dorian Gray "pivots on a gothic plot device" with strong themes interpreted from Faust.
I'd read the book before but picked up the audio book on Audible for Halloween - an appropriately slightly creepy read. Wilde's remarkable ability to turn a witty and memorable phrase is just as good in audio form.
When art itself kills its own creator there's no hope for redemption. Or is it?
For is it still art without a soul? Is art only beauty? Art for art's sake. And no one to tell the story. All vain, in vain.
I feel perplexed about The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. On one hand, the story is well written about a young man being moulded and shaped. On the other hand, this book was incredibly flowery and doesn’t really start for 100 pages. Dorian doesn’t really know about life and meets an artist and an aristocrat that help him though his journey into manhood. The artist paints his portrait, subsequently making him keep his youth. The aristocrat had the biggest influence on Dorian Gray, though Lord Harry Wotton is very annoying. He talks and talks the whole way through this book, thinking he’s so witty.
Dorian Gray starts off in this novel as a blank slate, an easily influenced young man. Thoughout the rest of the story he gets moulded and pushed into shape. After Basil paints his portrait Dorian starts to unravel, afraid to show the picture, he …
I feel perplexed about The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. On one hand, the story is well written about a young man being moulded and shaped. On the other hand, this book was incredibly flowery and doesn’t really start for 100 pages. Dorian doesn’t really know about life and meets an artist and an aristocrat that help him though his journey into manhood. The artist paints his portrait, subsequently making him keep his youth. The aristocrat had the biggest influence on Dorian Gray, though Lord Harry Wotton is very annoying. He talks and talks the whole way through this book, thinking he’s so witty.
Dorian Gray starts off in this novel as a blank slate, an easily influenced young man. Thoughout the rest of the story he gets moulded and pushed into shape. After Basil paints his portrait Dorian starts to unravel, afraid to show the picture, he locks it way in a room and never lets anyone see it, protecting it at all costs. The whole thing symbolising the way we hide our real selves from the rest of the world, scared of what they may think.
The Picture of Dorian Gray would have been controversial in its day, with strong homosexual themes. Though the book itself is more about the life and morality, Oscar Wilde did a brilliant of capturing this element of the book. For me the biggest downfall of this book was that Lord Wotton was too loud and dominates throughout the entire book.
Very witty!
