Great Gothic Horror, but not for everybody.

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	• The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) Oscar Wilde Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 248 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wine wit and wisdom

`So, Henry, how is that young Protégée of yours progressing, hem?
Lord Henry paused to saviour his glass. Pleased, he set it down, just so, beside his dinner plate, and turned to Lord Fermor.
`Pundits say troubles come in threes, Uncle,' replied Lord Henry. `What the pundits omit in their gabardine rush to spread their misery to others in a foolish attempt to alleviate their own, is that the best in life never travels solo. Take, for example, the wine and dinner before us. Both French. Together they constitute a meal to entice the gods down from the Mount. When did you ever come across a bad French meal, or a good French man? Yet when wine and food march together, they repay the Creator.'
`No doubt,' replied Lord Fermor, `but you evade the issue. I asked about the young chap you have taken into your entourage, you know.' Lord Fermor struggled to recall the name, `that chap who poses for Mr Hallward here.'
Basil Hallward felt the heat of recognition first on his brow, then running through his whole body. A retiring man, more at home with his easels and sitters than at high table, he shrank from the public glare.
Recognising the signs, though failing to sympathise with them, Lady Agatha piped up.
`Mr Hallword has many sitters, do you not, Sir.'
`Er, yes, indeed I do,' replied Mr Hallward, grateful for the prompt. `For example, just today I encountered a young man of exquisite appearance, youth in all its pomp. He has promised to sit for me. Lord Henry, I fancy, will try to take him away and teach him of the world, thereby spoiling him as a object d'art.' He laughed to denote humour, simultaneously glancing at his friend to convey the serious meaning behind his joke. Keep away Lord Henry, the glanced announced, shielded behind the laughter. Keep away from this young man lest you send him on the eternal search for fulfilment and in so doing corrupt his soul.
Lord Henry roared.
"Why Basil, you surpass yourself! Hiding a serious message behind a joke so that you may deliver it in public. Would that the Good Book decked itself in such garlands, the better to frighten the masses. You are a greater artist than your canvasses know.'
`I fear my husband is avoiding your question, Lord Fermor,' laughed Lady Victoria. `When it comes to hiding a serious message behind the veil of farce, he may rival Dante himself.'
`What is the name of your young beauty?' Inquired Lord Henry amidst the general humour. `I only ask,' he pressed, `so that I may avoid him. Let us hope I have more success than Eve, who expressed no desire to harvest the only tree in the garden that contained a serpent, until admonished not to. Of course,' Lord Henry continued, `our Creator did not warn off the firstborn with laughter on his lips. Had he done so, perhaps we would be consuming ambrosia still. Mind you,' he reflected, `this French cuisine is an adequate substitute.'
`Yes yes yes Henry,' broke in Lord Fermor, `but what about your young Protégée? Has he a fine future, seeking the dark mysteries of life of which you profess to be so fond?'
`Should he avoid hubris, I see for him a long, comfortable and satisfactory life.'
`And should he fail to avoid hubris?' teased Lady Agatha.
`Then I see for him immortality in print and prose. Hubris is man's affirmation of his living soul, his insistence that all must be as he ordains, and his rage that it is not. Should Basil paint hubris he would reveal Caliban.
`Modesty, on the other hand, is pleasing to the casual senses but fleeting, like snow on the chimneystack. Modesty and prose combine to produce the barely adequate. Hubris and prose combine to produce immortality, but not personal happiness.'
`And this choice, modesty of hubris, is one you see before Dorian Gray?' queried Mr Hallword.
`Dorian who?' Lord Henry responded. He reached again for the reassuring certainty in his wine glass. `I was referring to my Protégée, Oscar Wilde.'

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A Marvelous Useless Corruption

Am I no less agreeable? I remain in good humor and fine favor. Yet I am changed. My approbation of this miracle is boundless. This work intoxicates and leaves one wanting more. In my esteem nothing is more beautiful or useless than this masterpiece

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Great Gothic Horror, but not for everybody.

While this is Oscar Wilde's only foray into novel-writing, I must say it is justifiably called a classic. The use of descriptive language and mood is exquisite.

The only downsides that I can mention would be how slowly it moves in some spots. Once in a while, the story takes sort of a vacation, and you are given a lot of details that don't really apply to the overall plot. Some of the things that are discussed are good at shedding light on some of the things that Mr. Gray was doing throughout the years that this book took place, but they can get a little boring. Truth be told, I skipped most of one chapter because it went on, and on, and on about the things that piqued Dorian Gray's interest. It doesn't stop there, but it explains why it did, what he did about it, and some other people that he associated with while he was pursuing a certain subject, like gemology. In this edition, many of the names that are given through these pages are given an endnote in the back, but to the average person these don't hold much interest. Even to some hardcore fans of classic literature and Gothic Horror could find certain chapters (one at least) very tedious.

That being said, there is certainly more good in this book than needed to balance out the less interesting parts. In the beginning, we get to see where the corruption of young Mr. Gray comes from. As the book progresses, you can see the corruption finally consume him, culminating in a surprising finale. I read at work, and my jaw dropped more than once, which I only realized after a co-worker brought attention to it. Even though most people have heard of the themes in the book, this is a fine example of taking an existing theme, and making it into a brilliant new idea.

The ideas contained in this book can be a little disturbing to some with a weak stomach. Some of the language can be a little stiff and hard to read, but remember it was written in the 1890's.

This book is highly recommended for anybody who has an interest in the Classics or Gothic Horror. Not for the faint of heart, but if it's ever crossed your mind to read The Picture of Dorian Gray, pick this book up! If you want to start reading Gothic Horror, I would suggest something a little lighter to start with -- Edgar Allan Poe, The Phantom of the Opera, or something like that. Those are a little easier, and give you a good idea of what the genre is all about.

Happy Reading!

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Lessons to be learned from Dorian...

It will be a while before I forget this book. Dorian teaches me a very important lesson:

You can never escape the consequences of evil and regardless of how fortunate you are in some areas of your life, there are always lurking in our souls those moments of shame and regret.

I know that the book has many messages about narcissism, beauty, art, conscience, friendship, social classes and other topics, but Dorian's inability to shake his evil actions is what I will remember the most.

A tale of pleasures without consequence

One of the great joys of fiction is the positive encouragement to discard the intentions of the author and draw out individual meaning from its pages. This positive fruition is exemplified quite extraordinarily by Oscar Wilde in `The Picture of Dorian Gray', as he weaves a tale of youth, corruption and disregarding hedonism.

The protagonist of the story is the youthful and worldly-naive Dorian Gray who, through enticement by his mentor, pledges himself to eternal youth. His wish is sanctioned and the ravishes of age are transferred onto a portrait. Knowing that his appearance will remain forever innocent, he embarks on a pursuit of reckless pleasures, spiralling further into iniquity yet remaining unchanged, whilst his picture grows grotesquely disfigured...

The novel was controversial due to the unsubtle suggestions of homoeroticism. While it is true that homosexuality is strongly suggested throughout the work, I remain unconvinced that Wilde is in anyway promoting such a lifestyle within its pages. Rather, it would appear that Dorian's homosexuality is a method to achieving his goal of ecstatic delectation; the goal which, in the end, is his destruction. But, of course, considering Wilde's own sexual practices, one may read an endorsement of homosexuality within the novel.

Ultimately, I understood this novel to be a warning against unchecked desire and the pursuit of pleasure without limits; certainly an apt lesson for our own age.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences?biographical, historical, and literary?to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray, his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged?petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral?while a painting of him ages and grows increasingly hideous with the years, has been horrifying, enchanting, obsessing, even corrupting readers for more than a hundred years.

Taking the reader in and out of London drawing rooms, to the heights of aestheticism, and to the depths of decadence, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not only a melodrama about moral corruption. Laced with bon mots and vivid depictions of upper-class refinement, it is also a fascinating look at the milieu of Wilde?s fin-de-siècle world and a manifesto of the creed ?Art for Art?s Sake.?

The ever-quotable Wilde, who once delighted London with his scintillating plays, scandalized readers with this, his only novel. Upon publication, Dorian was condemned as dangerous, poisonous, stupid, vulgar, and immoral, and Wilde as a ?driveling pedant.? The novel, in fact, was used against Wilde at his much-publicized trials for ?gross indecency,? which led to his imprisonment and exile on the European continent. Even so, The Picture of Dorian Gray firmly established Wilde as one of the great voices of the Aesthetic movement, and endures as a classic that is as timeless as its hero.

Camille Cauti, Ph.D., is an editor and literary critic who lives in New York City. She is a specialist in the Catholic conversion trend among members of the avant-garde in London in the 1890s.

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