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The Picture of Dorian Gray (Illustrated) Kindle Edition

by Oscar Wilde (Author), Aubrey Beardsley (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 22,134 ratings

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'Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now!'

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde, appearing as the lead story in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890, printed as the July 1890 issue. The magazine's editors feared the story was indecent as submitted, so they censored roughly 500 words, without Wilde's knowledge, before publication. But even with that, the story was still greeted with outrage by British reviewers, some of whom suggested that Wilde should be prosecuted on moral grounds, leading Wilde to defend the novel aggressively in letters to the British press.

Today, Wilde's fin de siècle novella is considered a classic. It is presented here with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, Wilde's one time friend and collaborator with whom he fell out over Salome. The illustrations include a caricature of Wilde by Beardsley as well as a high definition copy of the original Lippincott's Magazine cover from July, 1890.

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218
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EN
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2014
August 4
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2.6 MB
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Product description

Review

`Very decadent and Victorian' --Savidge Reads --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Famed for his brilliant wit, Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) was a prolific writer and one of the most successful playwrights of Victorian Britain, who championed the values of Aestheticism and Decadence. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Publisher

Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Author

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied there, at Trinity College, and then at Oxford, where he founded the cult of aestheticism. He published several books of stories, and one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, in 1891. He had many successes as a playwright, first with Lady Windermere's Fan in 1892, and all his plays were performed in London between 1892 and 1895. A dazzling wit and flamboyant figure, Wilde's career was cut short after his homosexuality was exposed, and he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in 1895. Released in 1897, he fled to France where he died a broken man in 1900. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

Hi, I'm Rafe . . . and this is my latest tale of middle school madness!

· I get to move to the BIG CITY . . .

· but we live in the world's dinkiest house.

· I'm accepted to an AMAZING school . . .

· where all the kids are super-smart snobs.

· My first assignment is to create drawings based on my AWESOME life experiences . . .

· but I can't think of a single one.

· So I gear up for another mission, EVEN CRAZIER than my last one . . .

· and this time it's all about getting a life - the most INTERESTING life a thirteen year old ever had.

So if you're ready for a super-surprising and totally off-the-wall adventure . . .

Well . . . let's do this thing!

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Book Description

'The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it' The Picture of Dorian Gray --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray
A Longman Cultural Edition

Editor: Andrew Elfenbein
Series Editor: Susan J. Wolfson

Affordably priced, Longman Cultural Editions present classic works in provocative and illuminating contexts–cultural, critical, and literary. Each Longman Cultural Edition consists of the complete text of a key literary work, supplemented by helpful annotations and followed by contextual materials that reveal the conversations and controversies of its historical moment.

Other Longman Cultural Editions

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Edited by Laura Mandell
© 2007 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-39892-0

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© 2007 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-36467-8

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Edited by Susan J. Wolfson
© 2007 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-39953-6

NEW! A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria
Edited by Anne K. Mellor and Noelle Chao
© 2007 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-18273-1

Emma
Edited by Frances Ferguson
© 2006 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-22504-X

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Edited by Lawrence Danson
© 2005 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-16419-9

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Edited by Claire McEachern
© 2005 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-10722-5

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Edited by Marilyn Gaull
© 2005 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-20208-2

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Edited by Jeffrey Nunokawa and Gage McWeeny
© 2005 • Paper • ISBN 0-321- 10721-7

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Edited by Constance Jordan
© 2005 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-31729-7

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Edited by Sarah Anderson, Translated Alan Sullivan and Timothy Murphy
© 2004 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-10720-9

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Edited by Clare Carroll
© 2003 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-09699-1

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Edited by Claudia L. Johnson and Susan J. Wolfson
© 2003 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-10507-9

Coming Soon!
Henry IV, Parts I & II
Edited by Ronald Levao
© 2007 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-18274-X

John Keats
Edited by Susan Wolfson
© 2007 • Paper • ISBN 0-321-23616-5

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Amazon.com Review

A lush, cautionary tale of a life of vileness and deception or a loving portrait of the aesthetic impulse run rampant? Why not both? After Basil Hallward paints a beautiful, young man's portrait, his subject's frivolous wish that the picture change and he remain the same comes true. Dorian Gray's picture grows aged and corrupt while he continues to appear fresh and innocent. After he kills a young woman, "as surely as if I had cut her little throat with a knife," Dorian Gray is surprised to find no difference in his vision or surroundings. "The roses are not less lovely for all that. The birds sing just as happily in my garden."

As Hallward tries to make sense of his creation, his epigram-happy friend Lord Henry Wotton encourages Dorian in his sensual quest with any number of Wildean paradoxes, including the delightful "When we are happy we are always good, but when we are good we are not always happy." But despite its many languorous pleasures, The Picture of Dorian Gray is an imperfect work. Compared to the two (voyeuristic) older men, Dorian is a bore, and his search for ever new sensations far less fun than the novel's drawing-room discussions. Even more oddly, the moral message of the novel contradicts many of Wilde's supposed aims, not least "no artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style." Nonetheless, the glamour boy gets his just deserts. And Wilde, defending Dorian Gray, had it both ways: "All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment."

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Picture of Dorian Gray, The
Chapter OneThe studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.From the corner of the divan of Persian saddle-bags on which he was lying, smoking, as was his custom, innumerable cigarettes, Lord Henry Wotton could just catch the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum, whose tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flame-like as theirs; and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect, and making him think of those pallid jade-faced painters of Tokio who, through the medium of an art that is necessarily immobile, seek to convey the sense of swiftness and motion. The sullen murmur of the bees shouldering their way through the long unmown grass, orcircling with monotonous insistence round the dusty gilt horns of the straggling woodbine, seemed to make the stillness more oppressive. The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, and in front of it, some little distance away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden disappearance some years ago caused, at the time, such public excitement, and gave rise to so many strange conjectures.As the painter looked at the gracious and comely form he had so skilfully mirrored in his art, a smile of pleasure passed across his face, and seemed about to linger there. But he suddenly started up, and, closing his eyes, placed his fingers upon the lids, as though he sought to imprison within his brain some curious dream from which he feared he might awake.'It is your best work, Basil, the best thing you have ever done,' said Lord Henry, languidly. 'You must certainly send it next year to the Grosvenor. The Academy is too large and too vulgar. Whenever I have gone there, there have been either so many people that I have not been able to see the pictures, which was dreadful, or so many pictures that I have not been able to see the people, which was worse. The Grosvenor is really the only place.''I don't think I shall send it anywhere,' he answered, tossing his head back in that odd way that used to make his friends laugh at him at Oxford. 'No: I won't send it anywhere.'Lord Henry elevated his eyebrows, and looked at him in amazement through the thin blue wreaths of smoke that curled up in such fanciful whorls from his heavy opium-tainted cigarette. 'Not send it anywhere? My dear fellow, why? Have you any reason? What odd chaps you painters are! You do anything in the world to gain a reputation. As soon as you have one, you seem to want to throw it away. It is silly of you, for there is only one thing in the worldworse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. A portrait like this would set you far above all the young men in England, and make the old men quite jealous, if old men are ever capable of any emotion.''I know you will laugh at me,' he replied, 'but I really can't exhibit it. I have put too much of myself into it.'Lord Henry stretched himself out on the divan and laughed.'Yes, I knew you would; but it is quite true, all the same.''Too much of yourself in it! Upon my word, Basil, I didn't know you were so vain; and I really can't see any resemblance between you, with your rugged strong face and your coal-black hair, and this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you--well, of course you have an intellectual expression, and all that. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don't think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful. Your mysterious young friend, whose name you have never told me, but whose picture really fascinates me, never thinks. I feel quite sure of that. He is some brainless, beautiful creature, who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence. Don't flatter yourself, Basil: you are not in the least like him.''You don't understand me, Harry,' answered the artist. 'Of course I am not like him. I know that perfectly well. Indeed, I should be sorry to look like him. You shrug yourshoulders? I am telling you the truth. There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings. It is better not to be different from one's fellows. The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands. Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are--my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray's good looks--we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.''Dorian Gray? Is that his name?' asked Lord Henry, walking across the studio towards Basil Hallward.'Yes, that is his name. I didn't intend to tell it to you.''But why not?''Oh, I can't explain. When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I should lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I daresay, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into one's life. I suppose you think me awfully foolish about it?''Not at all,' answered Lord Henry, 'not at all, my dear Basil. You seem to forget that I am married, and the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties. I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet--we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to the Duke's--we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it--much better, in fact, than I am. She never gets confused over her dates, and I always do.But when she does find me out, she makes no row at all. I sometimes wish she would; but she merely laughs at me.''I hate the way you talk about your married life, Harry,' said Basil Hallward, strolling towards the door that led into the garden. 'I believe that you are really a very good husband, but that you are thoroughly ashamed of your own virtues. You are an extraordinary fellow. You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose.''Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know,' cried Lord Henry, laughing; and the two young men went out into the garden together, and ensconced themselves on a long bamboo seat that stood in the shade of a tall laurel bush. The sunlight slipped over the polished leaves. In the grass, white daisies were tremulous.After a pause, Lord Henry pulled out his watch. 'I am afraid I must be going, Basil,' he murmured, 'and before I go, I insist on your answering a question I put to you some time ago.''What is that?' said the painter, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground.'You know quite well.''I do not, Harry.''Well, I will tell you what it is. I want you to explain to me why you won't exhibit Dorian Gray's picture. I want the real reason.''I told you the real reason.''No, you did not. You said it was because there was too much of yourself in it. Now, that is childish.''Harry,' said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face, 'every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this pictureis that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul.'Lord Henry laughed. 'And what is that?' he asked.'I will tell you,' said Hallward; but an expression of perplexity came over his face.'I am all expectation, Basil,' continued his companion, glancing at him.'Oh, there is really very little to tell, Harry,' answered the painter; 'and I am afraid you will hardly understand it. Perhaps you will hardly believe it.'Lord Henry smiled, and, leaning down, plucked a pink-petalled daisy from the grass, and examined it. 'I am quite sure I shall understand it,' he replied, gazing intently at the little golden white-feathered disk, 'and as for believing things, I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.'The wind shook some blossoms from the trees, and the heavy lilac-blooms, with their clustering stars, moved to and fro in the languid air. A grasshopper began to chirrup by the wall, and ... --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From AudioFile

The famous story of the magic portrait that ages while its knavish subject stays young. With its witty dialogue and extravagant theatricality, Wilde's classic moral horror story reads beautifully aloud. If you've enjoyed the delightfully cynical cad, Lord Henry, impersonated by such actors as George Sanders, the youthful Sheen may disappoint you. He hasn't quite the technique to toss off the bons mots but makes up for it in passion and strong characterizations. His major achievement is his unique treatment of the narrative partly as melodrama and partly as fairy tale, a tone that matches, if not what the author aspired towards, what the author actually accomplished. The bridges of Bo'llmann, Chabrier and Schumann piano music are perfectly apt. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00HQFTOTU
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2663 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 9387826740

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Oscar Wilde
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Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford where, a disciple of Pater, he founded an aesthetic cult. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and his two sons were born in 1885 and 1886.
His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and social comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), established his reputation. In 1895, following his libel action against the Marquess of Queesberry, Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for homosexual conduct, as a result of which he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), and his confessional letter De Profundis (1905). On his release from prison in 1897 he lived in obscurity in Europe, and died in Paris in 1900.
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Centaur Classics
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Paper Mill Press
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Paper Mill Press is proud to present a timeless collection of unabridged literary classics to a twenty-first century audience. Each original master work is reimagined into a sophisticated yet modern format with custom suede-like metallic foiled covers.
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Shatarupa Dhar

Book Review

Reviewed in India on 12 December 2019

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Synopsis:
Dorian Gray is a naive, unassuming young man before he comes into contact with Lord Henry Wotton. Henry, fondly called Harry, is a friend of Basil Hallward. Basil is an artist who is smitten with Dorian and considers him his muse. It so happens that Basil does a life-sized portrait of Dorian and puts his very essence into it, such is his art. But, what if it results in something sinister? And, is Dorian really that naive or is it his inherent nature that comes out as he ages? Was that evil already there, just waiting to be unleashed?

Review:
The story opens in Basil's studio, where Harry is sitting languidly - inhaling both the scent of roses and cigarette smoke. While in the centre sits the artist, with an unfinished painting of a very beautiful man. So beautiful that - anyone who so much as glances at him, cannot help but look for a second time, a bit longer, that was the marvel of his face. Basil unwillingly reveals that man's name to be Dorian Gray and refuses to display that creation extraordinaire of his anywhere as he believes that he has put too much of himself into it. But when Dorian comes to visit Basil in the presence of Harry, their meet up with each other is inevitable. Something which Basil didn't want, judging by his mannerisms. He's apprehensive of Harry ruining Dorian's 'innocence'.

Sounds pretty simple, like your average goth story, no? Nah. What do you say when each and every line of The Preface is a quote in itself? In fact, throughout the text, the story is littered with brilliant and quotable quotes. Of course, you just read and be mesmerized, and be impressed by the sheer brilliance of the author's way with words. It is really sad that Wilde didn't write any more prose.

"There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."

While Basil worships Dorian, Dorian doesn't feel their friendship has altered him, as much as Harry's did in the short time of knowing him. Harry, that man is so sure of himself. Influencing Dorian negatively, arousing unhealthy passions in him. He doesn't even believe Dorian when the latter shares that he's in love with the seventeen-year-old Sybil Vane, an actress. Though it is obvious later on that Gray seems to be in love with the idea of love. His twenty-year-old brain seems addled as far as the concept of love is concerned.

As time passes, under Harry's influence, Dorian gives in to his decadent lifestyle. His mood swings are too much. Wilde has written such wicked characters, that you will love to hate them or hate yourself for loving them. Haha! I buddy read this book with a bunch of bookstagrammers and I remember one of the co-host - Ditsha - saying that she would love to suggest him a therapist. I believe so too.

"The more he knew, the more he desired to know. He had mad hungers that grew more ravenous as he fed them."

The eleventh chapter (out of a total of twenty) is a revelation, a hedonistic revelation. The passage of life has made him all of thirty-eight now. His aura is such that he destroys everyone who comes in his path. He has become the epitome of evil, and what a cruel fate Basil had been handed in the end. But there's one character who doesn't change, Harry has his wits and his quips with him right till the very end.

And in the end, the same portrait that saves him destroys him too.

"There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful."

The book has so many references to other written works and most importantly - music! But the text is something that I wouldn't call lyrical. It's rather lush, luxurious in meaning, rich in wordplay, oozing like chocolate out of a centre filled cake. I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to fall in love with the written word again.

P.S. Published in 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray is described as a gothic and a philosophical novel. And I haven't touched at all in this review about the philosophy part. I plan to do it soon, give me a month or two, maybe after my exams. I feel there is so much in the text that is just waiting to be unravelled.

Books the Characters Read:
1. Émaux et Camées by Théophile Gautier (Enamels and Cameos) – A collection of Poetry
Available for free on Project Gutenberg
2. À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans (Against Nature or Against the Grain)
3. Disciplina Clericalis by Petrus Alphonsi
4. A Margarite of America by Thomas Lodge
5. The Travels of Marco Polo by Marco Polo and Rustichello da Pisa
6. Historical Memoires on the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James by Francis Osborne

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Reviewed in India on 31 October 2023

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Ashok Krishna

Temptation, Manipulation & Corruption

Reviewed in India on 4 May 2017

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TEMPTATION!

From the moment the unfortunate Eve bit into the forbidden apple, to these current days, when we lesser-mortals are lured by the overpriced electronic 'Apples', Temptation has been shadowing us humans. A baneful prelude to our vices, very few amongst us can claim to have overcome temptation. While we are protected by various constraints that help us overcome our temptations - social stigma, fear of gods, fear of law and so on - once in a while even the most saintly amongst us 'blinks' and lets temptation cause mayhem.

The corrupt lot never lets any constraints stop them, while the Holiest few never let temptations taint them. It is the ordinary beings in the middle that suffer the most at the hands of Temptation. Pulled by the pleasures on one side, barred from it by principles and penal codes on the other, this middle lot bears the onslaught of temptation grudgingly. How often have we craved to indulge in the vices to which we are lead – sometimes by becoming invisible, some other times by transforming ourselves into someone or something else! We have all wanted to relish the baser pleasures of life, without letting their effects stain our souls. This book then is the expression of such a desire on the part of Oscar Wilde.

Yes. This is a book on temptation, manipulation and eventual corruption. Except that here the protagonist - or, is it the antagonist?! - is never tainted by his sins. The corruption of his soul is borne by his portrait instead of its carnal sheath.

Dorian Gray is a charming young boy knocking on the doors of adulthood. Lord Henry is a wealthy, hedonistic idler whose only purpose in life is to seek pleasure and pleasurable sensations. Basil Hallward is a simple, righteous persona and a talented painter that 'adores' Dorian. A chance meeting of all these three - on the fateful day Basil puts his heart and soul into painting Dorian – designs the rest of the tale. Lord Henry 'teaches' innocent Dorian to take pride in his own physical beauty, which is temporary and urges him to indulge in the pleasures suited to his age. Manipulated by Henry thus, Dorian becomes aware of the flush of youth in his veins, as truthfully depicted by Basil in the portrait, but is also dejected at the prospect of growing old and haggard someday. In one god-forsaken moment, he loudly wishes that he would even exchange his soul to stay as beautiful as he is and let that wonderful portrait feel the passage of Time.

Starting with the simple pleasures of life, Dorian once commits a serious injustice to the girl he falls in love with. Back at home, Dorian finds his portrait slightly changed to show signs of cruelty amidst all that boyish charm. Dorian realizes that his ‘wish’ has come true and all the sins of his soul will leave their stains on the portrait instead of his face or his youth. But just as he repents and tries to make amends for his grave error, Lord Henry, a mentor as vile as there could ever be, sets him again on the wicked ways. Tempted also by a book lent by Henry, and untouched by the effects of his ‘sins’, Dorian falls deep into the pits of life, all the while watching the portrait turn from ugly to ghastly with each ‘sin’ that he commits. Was Dorian able to mend his ways? Did he ever get to redeem his soul? This book is a tale that answers those questions.

Oscar Wilde wrote this novel – his only one – while English society was reeling at the height of Victorian morality. Being a homosexual himself, Wilde was condemned, ostracized and left to die in penurious exile. It is quite an irony then that a book which brought its author all the infamy must be one of the best-selling books of our ‘modern’ times.

Going through the book, I couldn’t help wondering whether Dorian Gray and Lord Henry were Wilde’s alter-egos. Remember, we writers have a knack of lending a part of our soul to the characters that we lovingly create. The sense of importance lent to the statements of Henry, the weakness with which the other characters contradict him and finally end up agreeing with him, the hold that this hedonistic idler wields on the whole tale are all evidence enough that Henry, more than even Gray, is the alter-ego of Oscar Wilde. Basil, the moral person that he is, sounds feebly like the other part of Wilde that regrets his ‘mistakes’.

Not just for the author, but for us the readers too, this book holds a mirror. While stating the moral decadence that Dorian falls into, Wilde does not elaborate on the kind of sins Dorian takes pleasure committing. In that sense this feels akin to Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde’. There also, the protagonist leads a double life, being a noble gentleman as Dr.Jekyll while lurking in the darkness as Mr.Hyde sating his gore hungers. But what kind of immoral activities that Mr.Hyde indulges in is never articulated, leaving it to our guess. Here also, Dorian’s one sin is to indulge in narcotics, but the rest of the decadences are left unsaid, like a blank canvas on which we can paint the nature of those sins. Both these books are similar in letting us decide on the level of moral corruption, thus bringing out the inner demons that we have all been hiding inside us too.

The literary fluency of Wilde, his ability to portray in words the England of the late 19th century - from flora to the banal - do all make it a pleasure to read this book. But, I couldn’t help noticing his egoistic English self, like most of the British of his days, which made him think of India as the land of snake-charmers – at least in the fleeting reference.

A psychological thriller that stemmed from the unreliable ‘art’ of physiognomy, this book is a forbidden apple that we must all bite into!

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Suraj wakpanjar

Just grea8🥰🥰❤️❤️

Reviewed in India on 5 December 2023

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AWESOME quality. The hardcover is really worth for penny.
I like the novel thanks Amazon
Great great great great great great

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Bernie Gourley

A clever, amusing, and tragic story of idealizing a person

Reviewed in India on 6 October 2023

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This is a book about what happens when you hollow out a person of all the complexity of the human condition and idealize them. At the beginning of the story, Dorian Gray is young, attractive, and preternaturally likable in a naïvely innocent kind of way. Almost to the novel’s end, through the magic of a wish made upon a portrait, Gray is still young and beautiful, though that naive innocence cracks under the strain of the impossible bifurcation of man and his soul. The artist, Basil Hallward, and Lord Henry (a man who will become a mutual friend of Gray and Hallward) cannot see Gray as a fully formed human being, but rather see him as an emblem of youth and beauty. But this unnatural ideal cannot hold, and a string of tragic deaths will be left in its wake.

The book is full of clever witticisms, albeit often of a nihilistic nature. These are almost all spoken by Lord Henry, who is the Polonius of the story – but a hipper kind of Polonius than Hamlet‘s. That said, it’s telling that toward the end of the book Gray does some of this epigrammatic philosophizing. (e.g. Such as when Gray tells Hallward, “Each of us has heaven and hell in him…”) One might dismiss this as Gray parroting Lord Henry, but I think that life has defrocked him of his naïveté, and he begins to think in ways that were impossible in his [true] youth.

This is a must-read. It’s interesting, thought-provoking, and well worth the time.

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Mrs. Y

A most worthy story of mystery and horror.

Reviewed in the United States on 1 February 2019

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“The world is wide and has many wonderful people in it.” - Basil from “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.

That specific quote from the novel we are reviewing today has so much to do with humanity as much as it has to do with the book. This is the first of the #StayClassyFeb reviews that I will be doing this month as February is dedicated to classics novels in the public domain that have reviews, but not a modern take on them.

I am hoping my review series provides you some insight into some of the old classics while also giving a clear picture on what to expect from the e-reader copy. Are you ready? I am. Let’s get some tea called in, be sure you tip your handsome driver and whatever you do, do not go into the room alone with the painting. Here comes a review of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.

Opinion

For this first review I’m choosing the classic that I’ve used in I don’t know how many jokes or quips over the years. I have compared Dick Clark, Cindy Crawford and Joan Rivers to Dorian Gray. “I bet they have a painting in the attic somewhere” is something I don’t mind quipping when I see someone who is teetering on ageless and the societal perfection with something underneath. As always I am going to review this book not only on the book, but on the copy I read, and base this as if I had no idea what this book was about because I’m not sure everyone has read “The Picture of Dorian Gray”.

My first impressions of Dorian Gray all these years later is familiarity, but subtlety. If you have never read this book, it comes across kind of slow to begin, but that’s a trap. Oscar Wild I believe inspired writers to layer in foreshadowing carefully into their works ahead of time. This novel has a subtle layer of foreshadowing in the first and second chapters that take us through the whole book and adds some intrigue. The story and its beautiful layers are so important to what happens later, and if you are not closely paying attention to the first two chapters, it’s going to be very confusing later.

Critiques, and believe it or not this goes into the “Story Structure, Foundation and Presentation” part of scoring for my reviews. So there are MANY copies and revisions of this book, that one would think whoever is doing the e-books would be respectful and ensure their copy stands out. Well, alas, this one does not. The words are stuck together, the commas are on top of each other and I could go on. It’s tough to read. Whole sentences sometimes do not have spaces between them. It’s probably one of the poorest examples of an e-copy that I have seen in some time, and I review books from all sorts of writers and publishers.

I feel if Oscar Wilde had self-published, this would have been picked up immediately and fixed. “A Picture of Dorian Gray” deserves far more care and love than it got in its e-copy. Here’s an example:

Page 44

“Belgian brute, to insult his son-in-law inpublic-paid him,sir, to do it, paid him- and that thefellow spitted his man as if he had been a pigeon. The thing washuhed up, but, egad Kelso ate his chop alone at the club for sometime afterwards.”

That’s the bottom third of dialog on page 44 on the e-copy that I read on my Kindle. To verify it, I went back to this on my son’s Amazon Fire 7, downloaded the book, and it’s the same thing.

I feel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” deserves more love and respect than this copy gave the story. I hope someone will go back in and fix the e-copy. This sadly impacted the score on the novel, and not because of Oscar Wilde, but because of the way it was put together on the e-reader.

Next, let’s go into some story critiques. Oh yeah, even Oscar Wilde cannot escape the catchy gaze of Mrs. Y. For the first of the story critiques, we return to “Story Structure, Foundation, and Presentation” and it’s pacing we are looking at. This book has some very dry and slow pacing at times. Chiefly, anytime they are talking about what Dorian Gray has in his house, or the way something looks, it’s a slowly paced sequence. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not important, it simply is slow and it can be tedious to get through.

My next critique, we go into the “Lost in Translation” section of my scoring. While I am certain this was trendy and cool back in the day it was written, the fact that I have to stop to Google Translate French to understand what is going on is a tad on the annoying side. It’s not terrible, but I like to know what I’m reading. Frequently I suppose to make it fancier, there are sections of French poetry or even French sayings. I know just enough French to be able to order food in Louisiana, so this one was a bit of a struggle at times. If you are like me and you do not throw French prose into your sentences, you may find that Google Translate is your buddy. Also, good to note, if you have an Android device you can use the translation app to hover over the words and figure out what it says easier. I am not sure if Apple has an equivalent or not, but I know Android does.

For this part of the review let’s go into my favorite things about this book. This is a book we should read and reflect on in our times. This story has so much of a cautionary tale about entitlement versus gratitude and how that can shape a life, as well as ignoring things as we grow. Everyone grows up and when they are young there is so much potential. But in that potential, there is a desire or tendency to do impulsive things that can corrupt us. Over time that corruption becomes festering and digesting. That’s the point of the narrative. So thus, even though it seems like a long-ago book, it’s not. It’s still something that we can connect with even now.

There also is a lot to say about how you can’t run from your problems or hide them. At the end of the day, your problems must be dealt with or they become bigger problems. No drugs, no alcohol, not even running away makes them any less of a situation that must be addressed. I like that this story can put a glaring spotlight onto things we deal with even now.

The other part I enjoyed was the detail work and imagery of Oscar Wilde. Though his words are formal and older toned, they are profound and beautiful even to this day. There are beautiful descriptions, and then there is disgusting imagery in the narrative, that I even find beauty in their wake. Even the most horrible stuff, from the description of a hunting incident to the seedy docks and old opium dens, has a beauty to the description despite the grotesque subject matter.

Though this is an older book, it has so much to say about the influence of the “wise” to the “naive”, and why maybe it is better to listen to your heart instead of the words of others.

Lastly, the thing I like is the message of “Dorian Gray” and that message is ‘Know thyself”. Throughout the book there is an underlining question, will he fix this or will he continue his ways? This adds a kind of dynamic tension to the book and strings along everyone that is in Dorian’s life. But the thing that continues to happen is he listens to the wrong things or he thinks away the truth of the matter. Even in a situation where he could have done the right thing and by all rights believed so, the truth of reality comes around. That message is important. If one knows their own self, and knows deep down what it is to be a good human or a bad one, they can make the choices accordingly. It’s when they deny it in either way that things become murky.

My last thought about it, whatever happened to the picture? Someday if you want to debate me on that topic let me know in the comments below. I’d love to have a discussion about this book!

Score

What does the great Oscar Wilde get from Mrs. Y all these many years later? Does he get an automatic pass because this book itself is youthful in its age, or does this masterwork fall flat because of out of date situations?

The e-book copy took a hit. If I was scoring just the e-book copy without any story considerations it’d be a 62/100. However, considering the story and this specific version of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde scored a solid 82/100 which is a 4-Star rating for Goodreads and Amazon.

Despite the errors with the mashed words, the overall story managed to bring the score back up even though the e-reader copy itself is in need of some love and affection.

Join me next time my friends, and I hope you have a lovely day!

29 people found this helpful

Pedro Cesar Prosdocimo

best novel I’ve ever read, it’s astonishing!

Reviewed in Brazil on 22 November 2023

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I’ve only heard of Dorian Grey’s picture on lyrics from goth post-punk bands like The Church. Now I see the weight and importance that this classic had to represent not only in literature but also inspiring the dark, underground culture as we know.

Ana Beatriz Novaes Infante

Versão censurada

Reviewed in Brazil on 9 November 2023

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A história do livro é perfeita, no entanto, completamente censurada. Gostaria de ter lido a versão original, ou pelo menos a mais próxima possível, para ter acesso ao livro que chocou a sociedade da época e levou o autor a prisão. Contudo, mesmo com as censuras, é possível entender porque essa é uma verdadeira obra prima. Oscar Wilde era um gênio.

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Lydia

a character study of man who’s self is god

Reviewed in the United States on 15 October 2023

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Change the details and this story could have been written today, I don’t think people ever really change. Dorian Gray is vain and selfish but it takes the prompting of Sir Henry to get him to cross the line into true degeneracy. In that way Sir Henry might be called a devil figure - is always goading always tempting Dorian and others in his sphere to be less moral. Even in the end he is still completely pleased by what Dorian has become and sees him as an ideal. A man that can sin and sin with no sign of it to his appearance - his life of debauchery and drug use doesn’t even age him- Dorian to him is art realized and he speaks truthfully when he says that any impulse to morality is for Dorian more selfishness.Because it is, he never feels badly for those he’s hurt, Dorian only feels bad for himself. I enjoyed this book very much and if I had to criticize it would only be that Oscar Wilde shows himself too much, he’s often indulgent in cataloging his tastes and the great people in history who have shared those tastes- there are way too many pages given to tapestries and jewels and other collections like these. But I do appreciate that vulgar details are never given in this book , allusions are made with book references but you come to your own conclusions the life that Dorian is living and leading others into. Modern writers could learn from that example I think.

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Hinterscheid Henri

Für das Unistudium meiner Tochter

Reviewed in Germany on 4 December 2023

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Habe das Buch für meine Tochter auf ihre Uniadresse in Limerick (Irland) bestellt, hat super geklappt!

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