Other editions of book The Picture of Dorian Gray

If I were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old...I would give my soul for that! The wish uttered by Dorian Gray as he gazes on his portrait forms the basis of the plot of this brilliant and disturbing story of a gilded and spoil hedonist who, Faust-like, is willing to sell his soul for his beauty. First published to scandalize protest in 1890, Oscar Wilde's fantastic melodrama was widely condemned by his contemporaries as an affront to the value of polite society. It has since become one of the most celebrated works, a brilliant example of his power as a storyteller and of his flamboyant wit and aestheticism.

Flamboyant and controversial, Oscar Wilde was a dazzling personality, a master of wit, and a dramatic genius whose sparkling comedies contain some of the most brilliant dialogue ever written for the English stage. Here in one volume are his immensely popular novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray; his last literary work, “The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” a product of his own prison experience; and four complete plays: Lady Windermere’s Fan, his first dramatic success, An Ideal Husband, which pokes fun at conventional morality, The Importance of Being Earnest, his finest comedy, and Salomé, a portrait of uncontrollable love originally written in French and faithfully translated by Richard Ellmann.Every selection appears in its entirety–a marvelous collection of outstanding works by the incomparable Oscar Wilde, who’s been aptly called “a lord of language” by Max Beerbohm.

In this celebrated work, his only novel, Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

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, the magazine's editor deleted roughly five hundred words before publication 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. Source: Wikipedia

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition™ includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader contend with Wilde’s many allusions and his complex approach to the human condition. Oscar Wilde’s only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, first appeared in 1891. Dorian Gray, a handsome young man, falls in with a group of “friends,” whose amoral philosophies he finds quite appealing. After he has his portrait painted, his frivolity and general demeanor degenerate into wickedness, but only the portrait bears the effects of his descent into decadence and serves as a powerful symbol of Gray’s internal ruin. Dorian himself, however, remains as young and unspoiled as the day he first sat for the painting. Wilde’s exploration of life without limits or consequences shocked its late-Victorian audience and remains highly un- settling to modern readers. We, like Dorian, are forced to reconsider whether total freedom and absolute knowledge are really worth their costs.

This carefully crafted ebook: "The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Uncensored 13 Chapter Version + The Revised 20 Chapter Version" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Picture of Dorian Gray, the only novel by Oscar Wilde, was first published in 1890. A substantially revised and expanded edition was published in April 1891. For the new edition, Wilde revised the content of the novel's existing chapters, divided the final chapter into two chapters, and created six entirely new additional chapters. Whereas the original edition of the novel contains 13 chapters, the revised edition of the novel contains 20 chapters. The 1891 version was expanded from 13 to 20 chapters, but also toned down, particularly in some of its overt homoerotic aspects. Also, chapters 3, 5, and 15 to 18 are entirely new in the 1891 version, and chapter 13 from the first edition is split in two (becoming chapters 19 and 20). The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Dorian is selected for his remarkable physical beauty, and Basil becomes strongly infatuated with Dorian, believing that his beauty is responsible for a new mode of art. The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered one of the last works of classic gothic horror fiction with a strong Faustian theme. It deals with the artistic movement of the decadents, and homosexuality, both of which caused some controversy when the book was first published. However, in modern times, the book has been referred to as "one of the modern classics of Western literature. Oscar Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his only novel (The Picture of Dorian Gray), his plays and poetry, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death.

Introduction by Jeffrey Eugenides • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.” Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde’s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.”

Canterbury Classics gives a new look to this controversial classic!The Picture of Dorian Gray is a familiar story of greed, sin, and arrogance. A young man, infatuated with his own handsomeness and youth as depicted in a perfect portrait, makes a bargain he will come to regret. No one can save him from his appetite for pleasure and his awful fate--not the man who idolizes him, not the woman who loves him, and not even himself! Published in 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel. At first the subject of intense controversy, it has endured as a classic for years. This Canterbury Classics edition includes the beloved story as well as a special heat-burnished cover, foil stamping, and designed endpapers in an easy-to-carry package. A cautionary tale of innocence sacrificed for the sake of vice, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic whose lessons are still relevant today. About the Word Cloud Classics series:Classic works of literature with a clean, modern aesthetic! Perfect for both old and new literature fans, the Word Cloud Classics series from Canterbury Classics provides a chic and inexpensive introduction to timeless tales. With a higher production value, including heat burnished covers and foil stamping, these eye-catching, easy-to-hold editions are the perfect gift for students and fans of literature everywhere.

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 of this magazine. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters; the amended version was published by Ward, Lock, and Company in April 1891. The title is sometimes rendered incorrectly as The Portrait of Dorian Gray.The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new hedonism, Lord Henry suggests the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfillment of the senses. Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian (whimsically) expresses a desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging.The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered a work of classic gothic fiction with a strong Faustian theme.

Packaged in handsome and affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is a new series of essential literary works. From the musings of literary geniuses like Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the striking personal narrative of Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our literary history through the words of the exceptional few.The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece and lone novel, has endured as a significant piece of literature partly due to its philosophical nature and artful prose, and partly because of the stir it caused upon its initial publication. Published originally in 1890 in Lippincott’s Magazine, The Picture of Dorian Gray—often deemed by Wilde’s contemporaries to be “indecent”—tells the story of an attractive young man eponymous with the title who desires to be eternally young. Dorian is the subject of a portrait by a painter named Basil Hallward, who deems Gray’s beauty to be inconceivably great. Rather than having to age himself, young and egotistical Dorian longs for the painting to age instead so that he can remain young and beautiful. When he sells his soul in exchange for eternal youth—a concept Wilde derived from the German legend of Faust—Dorian begins a life of vice and debauchery with its sole aim being pleasure. Meanwhile, the painting documents each of his sins within its appearance. When Dorian confronts the painting again with Hallward, a slew of unfortunate events unfold.Abundant with rich, philosophical themes and commentary, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a classic tale that warns its readers of the dangers that come with narcissism, self-indulgence, and ignorance.

The novel that scandalized Victorian England In a London studio, two men contemplate the portrait of another—younger and more beautiful—man. Despite Lord Henry Wotton’s urging, Basil Hallward refuses to show his painting in public—there is too much of his true feeling for the subject in it. “I will not bare my soul to their shallow, prying eyes,” he declares. “My heart shall never be put under their microscope.” Instead, it is Dorian Gray’s soul put under the microscope of this unforgettable novel. Influenced by the cynical, hedonistic Lord Henry, Dorian becomes infatuated with his own youth and beauty and wishes that his portrait would grow old instead of him. His wish comes true, but it is not just the passage of time that mars the painting—the wages of sin are recorded there as well. Freed from the physical toll of his debauchery, Dorian devotes himself to the pursuit of pleasure above all else. He turns on his friends, drives his lover to suicide, and engages in every vice known to man. To society, he remains as handsome and youthful as Prince Charming. In the painting, he is hideous. Too late, Dorian realizes that only one of these two images can be real, and a reckoning deferred is not a reckoning absolved.This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.