The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wordsworth Classics)

by Oscar Wilde (Author), John M L Drew (Introduction)

• New

  Paperback
  1992

  $6.76

  With an Introduction and Notes by John M.L. Drew, University of Buckingham. Wilde's only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life, and consequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to believe in 'art for art's sake', to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design. Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment. Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the 'note of doom' which runs like 'a purple thread' through its carefully crafted prose.

• Used

  Paperback
  1991

  $13.16

  Part of the Penguin Authentic Texts series of books that examine English language fiction, focusing on literature and language in literature. This book includes notes on language to help clarify text for both native and non-native readers of English. On its publication in 1891, The Picture of Dorian Gray was widely condemned for its immorality as, of course, was its author Oscar Wilde. And yet, this novel is an almost moral tale, depicting the spiritual and physical decay of a young man devoted to aestheticism.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1999

  $4.32

  The first World's Classics were introduced by some of the greatest writers of their day, including Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene and T.S. Eliot. In these hardback editions, contemporary novelists including A.S. Byatt and Joyce Carol Oates introduce their favourite classics in original pocketbook size. Echoing the original World's Classics series, the books are produced to gift-book standard with stitched binding, head and tail bands, printed on 60msg paper and featuring matt laminated jackets in a retro-look design. When Dorian Gray gazes upon his own portrait, he makes a wish that his youth and beauty will last forever. Good-natured and easily led, he falls into bad company and a life of debauchery, yet all the time retains his innocent good looks. Only his portrait reveals the true corruption of his soul.

• New

  Paperback
  1999

  $17.97

  The story of a man who preserves his youth while his portrait visibly deteriorates with time.

• New

  hardcover
  

  $16.54

  Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The novel was a succes de scandale and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. It has lost none of its power to fascinate and disturb.