About this title: Oscar Wilde's classic work is about a man who sells his soul for eternal youth: only his portrait ages, while he remains forever handsome and young. Wilde's allegory, first published in 1890, provides an interesting take on the Faust myth and also a probing examination of human values. Wilde himself described it as the story of "an idea that is ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: Reprint. Seventh printing
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
Date Published: 1973
ISBN-13:9780440369141ISBN:0440369142
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. edge wear and creasing, discoloration. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. Dell#6914 Laurel Edition read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1998-05-28
ISBN-13:9780192833655ISBN:0192833650
Description: Very Good. Trade paperback; 195 p. Very light general wear with one vague ink underline first page and owner name inside cover. Tight, straight, clean copy. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Baronet Books
Date Published: 1995
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Nice hard cover, lightly read, light shelf wear to cover, stk #1128nfm6. 240 p. Includes illustrations. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Covers lightly 'rubbed', pp lightly 'tanned'. Spine NOT creased, NO stains, tears, writing, in tight book. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Magnum Books (Magnum Easy Eye Books)
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Large print paperback edition. Covers are straight. Corners are straight. Text mildly tanned but free of markings. Binding is tight. Book sits nice and square. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Peter Smith Publisher
Date Published: 1964
ISBN-13:9780804900393ISBN:0804900396
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. surface indention where sticker was. light readers crease. light tip creases/wear. soft browning. Airmont Classic Series CL39 read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9781853260155ISBN:1853260150
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Wadsworth Collection. Audience: General/trade. pages are clean, tight, and unmarked-corners and spine ends show very little wear-spine shows no visible creasing-bar code on back cover had a sticker on it that was partially removed read more
"Do not waste your time with this one. Here's the story. Dorian Gray is an attractive young man not yet twenty. His close friend paints his portrait and being coerced that right is wrong and wrong is right by Lord Henry Wotton, the true villain of the story, he wishes that the painting would grow old while he, Dorian, remains young. And this is what happens. The more sinful and awful Dorian is, the uglier becomes the painting while he remains perpetually youthful and beautiful. Finally deciding he wants to change, in an attempt to destroy the painting, he kills himself. End of story. My goodness but wasn't Mr. Wilde is love with his own use of words, his own story-telling, his own intellect. He can't simply say the sun comes up, he has to take two pages describing all the sunrises since the beginning of time. He can't say Dorian loved jewels and tapestries and clothing, no, he has to describe this king's robe and that lord's attire for page after page. It is beyond boring. And what is with constantly having to say Dorian Grey thinks this, Dorian Gray does that? It's irritating and purposeless; there aren't other Dorian's in the story from whom he needs to be distinguished. Lord Wotton is the most verbose character I've ever run across and I hope to never read his like again. I suspect he must be Wilde's voice as he has ridiculous and cruel opinions about simply everything and they aren't clever or witty, they're damaging and harmful to Dorian, from the first time they meet. His influence over an impressionable young man is the only real horror of the tale. That someone could think so little of corrupting someone beautiful and pure is sad and disgusting. I'm not sure what Wilde was trying to say with that. There is not the first thing scary in the entirety of this thing. What's more, this is a horror classic and the only truly horrifying thing is that I took the time to read it.
(Reading challenge - 0 pts - read a horror classic"
"This book may have somewhat of a slow start; however, it is worth reading. There lies within a deeper "moral story" for each of us, who dare to finish this one! An interesting story line, which I have never seen duplicated."
Dorian Gray is an irresistibly handsome (and utterly selfish) socialite concerned with superficialities of the ego: appearance, beauty, passion, youth and image. One day, after his artist friend paints his picture, Gray expresses his desire to remain as young and handsome as he is in the portrait, and for the portrait to instead be the one to age. His wish is realized. As Gray enters deeper into a life of sin and crime, he remains young and physically unaffected, while his portrait grows older and uglier, reflecting the evil nature of his soul.
I found this concept fascinating in and of itself, but also for the questions it raises about what truly defines beauty, how our actions affect not only who we are but the lives of others, the weight of our transgressions on the soul, and how or if we can redeem ourselves.
I do wish Wilde had stayed a bit more focused on the above and less on some of the elitist-type social discussions between characters. The book is at times (in my opinion) a bit over-dramatic and heavy in many somewhat pompous dialogues, particularly Chapter 11. Though, I guess this is not surprising, as the The Picture of Dorian Gray is Wilde's only novel, and he is of course known for his plays (which require drama and heavy dialogue). I didn't love this book as much as the first time I read it, but I did enjoy revisiting it again. Overall, definitely worth the time!"
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