I don't know what I was quite expecting here. It's a psychological horror story with a lot of comic relief, in the form of the endless witty paradoxes. After page 30 you are thinking that if Lord Henry makes just one more crack you're going to knock his monocle off his family crest and grind it underfoot. Oscar often clearly thinks he's being hilarious with his wit with a capital W – and maybe it's me, but Oscar Wilde often sounds like a parody of Oscar Wilde, like in the Monty Python sketch

WHISTLER: Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss.
(gasps)
THE PRINCE OF WALES: What?
WHISTLER: It was one of Wilde's.
OSCAR WILDE: I, um, I, ah, I merely meant, Your Majesty, that, ah, you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.
THE PRINCE OF WALES:
Oh, ho-ho, very good.

But of course, some of it is very good stuff :

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 tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces.

The fact was, one of her married daughters had come up quite suddenly to stay with her, and to make matters worse, had actually brought her husband.

One of those middle-aged mediocrities so common in London clubs who have no enemies but are thoroughly disliked by their friends.

But his character Lord Henry goes on and on with the wit and the aphorisms

She is a peacock in everything but beauty…she tried to found a salon and only succeeded in opening a restaurant…. One can't stand other people having the same faults as ourselves.

And you get a lot of guff about women

No woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.

As for conversation, there are only five women in London worth talking to, and two of these can't be admitted into decent society.

(that last one reminds me of the weird quote from Captain Beefheart – "There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers". Oh, how rude of me – Oscar, allow me to introduce Captain Beefheart.



Captain Beefheart, may I present Mr Oscar Wilde – I believe you may have heard the name.

)

Then there's the necessarily undeclared but pretty open gayness. How the two older men worship this young Adonis Dorian – they openly salivate! - and how he reciprocates too. He says to Lord Henry 30 minutes after meeting him :

I feel I must come with you. Do let me. And you will promise to talk to me all the time? No one talks so wonderfully as you do.

What a flirt. I don't think boys talk to each other like this anymore. They're a little more discreet these days.

So as the story saunters along, and at a couple of points you think there never will be a story, the banter and the brittle conversations die away and Dorian, his portrait miraculously ageing instead of him, realises he can "sin" without consequence. He turns into a vicious voluptuary, a promiscuous profligate, an effulgent epicurean and a licentious libertine. In time the word gets round, and society reacts with the strongest possible disapproval :

He was very nearly blackballed at a West End club… and it was said that on one occasion when he was brought by a friend into the smoking-room of the Churchill, the Duke of Berwick and another gentleman got up in a marked manner and went out.

That would cut a fellow to the very quick, though, wouldn't it. What would be the modern equivalent? There isn't one.

Both Dorian and the novel turn strange. You might think that the life of a young handsome sensualist would consist of orgies and opium, roofies and deflorations, and maybe a black mass thrown in for kicks, with goats and orphans, but you would be wrong. Dorian plunges into a life of strange obsessions – for ten pages we get elaborate lists of a) perfumes, b) jewels, c) tapestries, and d) world music – yes, that came as a surprise to me too :

He used to give curious concerts in which mad gypsies tore wild music from little zithers or grave yellow-shawled Tunisians plucked at the strained strings of monstrous lutes

So WOMAD then.




Dorian collects instruments like the furuparis, human bone flutes, sonorous green jaspers, the clarin, the teponazali, some yotl-bells and a Stratocaster made from the skulls of Tibetan lamas. No, I made up the last one. But this is a real quote : "he had a special passion, also, for ecclesiastical vestments". I was kind of disappointed. Is this really debauchery? I don't think Ozzy Osbourne would recognise it as such.

With the change of gear in the book, we find that Oscar can come out with some quite extraordinary sentences. Here is a favourite :

There are few of us who have not sometimes wakened before dawn, either after one of those dreamless nights that make us almost enamoured of death, or one of those nights of horror and misshapen joy, when through the chambers of the brain sweep phantoms more terrible than reality itself, and instinct with that vivid life that lurks in all grotesques, and that lends to Gothic art its enduring vitality, this art being, one might fancy, especially the art of those whose minds have been troubled with the malady of reverie.

Oscar's solitary novel is a gothic tale of a man who came to think that he could commit sin without consequence. And he couldn't. It's either curiously conservative – God will smite you down, there's no escape, and nor should there be – or it's a coded message of revolution : the idle rich have got it coming to them. I think Oscar became a convert to some form of socialism round about the time he wrote his novel, so I'm going with the latter interpretation. It suits me. I think there are fifty shades of Dorian Gray even now cashing in their half million dollar bonuses and thinking that they'll be young and invulnerable forever. But vengeance will come like a thief in the night.

"A face without a heart", so said Shakespeare in Hamlet, but it applies to the portrait of Dorian Gray even better.... When the young gentleman Dorian Gray from a wealthy aristocratic family in Victorian England, has his picture completed something is missing, Basil Hallward, the painter senses it and insists that no one sees his greatest work, except a few people ... The witty Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian's soon to be best friend seems amused, a shy artist! All three are fascinated by the painting, discussing it at length in Mr. Hallward's house. The lord is a notorious man, with a well- deserved evil reputation, warned by many to stay away from him. Nevertheless Gray's a lonely orphan, needs excitement in his dreary life, Wotton tells Dorian to have fun while he is still young, it will not last long. Mr. Gray has good looks, and like a moth to a flame the boy can't resist. Dorian wishes that the portrait ages while he remains young, as time goes by, Dorian would give his soul for this, Lord Henry laughs at the oath, strangely his request is fulfilled shortly afterwards. Dorian meets a beautiful seventeen- year- old actress, both fall madly in love, later the nervous Sibyl Vane, gives a really bad performance in front of Gray , and his two friends, Wotton, Hallward, the young gentleman is crushed , and so disappointed he leaves her. Sibyl then kills herself, James her brother had pledged to destroy anyone who harms his sister, he will cause Mr. Gray much concern subsequently. The wicked lord tells the distraught youth to forget about it, "Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secrets, wild joy and wilder sins". All this and only the picture to show its evil, a great bargain Dorian feels. Rumors abound about Dorian, they the people look at his face and see only purity, Gray continues his hedonistic life, murder , another suicide and a killing results ... In a locked, quiet, dark room upstairs at his home, where the curious Mr. Gray keeps the painting, it Grotesquely Changes, whenever more wickedness is committed by the owner. The ugly side of Dorian, only he sees... Later into the shadows , Dorian goes to get opium, he wants salvation through drugs, blackout his memories but gloom is everywhere, a thick atmosphere of foreboding, intense desperation and immense helplessness, prevails. Reaching for something, that will save his poor soul, make him feel worthwhile that life has some meaning, is all lost? A mournful torrent rushes Dorian forward always forward, into the abyss, the darkness, the endless unknown regions, next oblivion? The light is going out, Dorian must face his destiny, he couldn't escape himself ...

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a hard book to review. After reading such eloquent, beautiful, and rich writing, I am at a loss for how to command my comparatively paltry ability to use words to express how I felt about this book.

Forgive me as I go back to AP English for a few moments. I asked myself what were the themes of this novel. Here is my list:

Identity
Experience
Beauty
The triumph on senses over reason
Accountability

I will attempt to build my review, in part, around the discussion of these themes.

Identity
Dorian Gray was a flawed man who was essentially empty inside. He was very young when this story began, seemingly full of potential. Sadly, he invested all his sense of worth in his external beauty, doing little to grow the inner man; unless you consider his descent into depravity, discovering more and more excesses for the meaningless value of those experiences (since his mentor Lord Henry taught him that experience has no value), yet he was strangely curious as to how they would affect the portrait of his soul. He was not quite a tragic figure, because I could not feel sorry for him. He had made this horrible decision (and I believe he had opportunities to repent of it, which he didn't take), but he chose never to take responsibility for himself. Which leads to the next theme.

Accountability
As I said above, I could feel no sympathy for Dorian Gray. Why? Because he never took responsibility for his actions. Being accountable for one's own actions is a crucial aspect of self-development, at least in my humble opinion. If a person cannot do that, they are doomed to eternal immaturity. This was Dorian's fate. It was Basil's fault for painting the picture. It was Sybil's fault for being a bad actress, and making him fall out of love with her. All the people he ruined in his relentless pursuit of pleasure and debauchery ruined themselves. He took no part in their ruination. Ultimately, he even blamed the picture, and sought to destroy it as the only true evidence of his black soul. I feel like this: If you're going to be a bad, selfish person, own up to it. Don't try to act like your sins should be laid at other people's feet. That was the route the Mr. Dorian Gray took.

Experience
Lord Henry was the man who opens Dorian's eyes to the fact that the only thing he has to his advantage is the beauty of his youth, that he should enjoy life while he is young enough to experience it fully. He states that experience is not a teacher, and that men don't learn from the mistakes they make as they live. Your experiences don't count for anything. It seemed to be a self-fulfilling prophecy for Dorian Gray. Instead of realizing how his selfish, shallow actions could hurt and destroy others, he never did do that. He merely went from one fixation to the other, marking the effects on the portrait that he guarded jealously. In the end, there was no value to what he experienced. He was just wasting time (in my opinion).

The triumph of sensation over reason
Dorian Gray became a voluptuary, lost in sensations. He didn't focus on becoming a learned person, only experiencing what he encountered in his pursuits, wallowing in those sensations; until he grew bored, and moved onto the next one. Lord Henry seemed like a good mentor. A man who appeared so intelligent, with a saying for everything. A witty, entertaining man, who had a reputation for saying utterly wicked things. But he wasn't a deep man. He didn't believe what he said. It was an image that he projected for lack of anything else to do as an aristocrat who had no need to work for a living. Dorian Gray took this as gospel, and took it to the next level. As a result, it made his life utterly meaningless. Sadly, his friend Basil, who was a fairly wise person, was dismissed, and made fun of by Lord Henry. I almost felt like Basil and Lord Henry were the warring aspects of Dorian's conscience, at times.

Beauty
What is beauty? I tend to think it's a double-edged sword. We are all attracted to things that are beautiful, that have a physical appeal. But, should we be content with merely a comely appearance, while the inside is rotted? Dorian Gray was a man of such unearthly beauty that people could not believe he was capable of the debauchery he had committed. Those who didn't heed the warnings given to them, came to rue it. Basil, who painted the young Dorian's fateful picture, couldn't accept that Dorian had become such a horrible person. What a sad fate that was for Basil.


I felt several things as I read this book: interest, curiosity, disgust, sadness, and ultimately, a sense that justice had been done, in a very strange, but fitting way.

One thing that became very apparent to me as I read this novel, was Oscar Wilde's considerable wit. I imagine he was quite entertaining to be around.

In the preface, Oscar Wilde says that all art is meaningless. What was he trying to say with this story? Nothing?

I have trouble believing that. This was a novel I couldn't dismiss and treat as mere brain candy. There was some message there that hammered away at my brain. I do believe that Mr. Wilde hints at the subjective nature of art (which includes literature). I think that we could all read the same story and take away different things from it. Our brains are so very different, and the pathways are nurtured and developed by our various experiences, and our own values. So, that we will all come away from viewing a picture or reading a story with a hand-tailored message. Maybe that's what he means by saying that an artist strives not to be present in his work. Instead, it is a mirror reflecting the viewer. That makes sense to me, actually.

What message did I come away with?

At the end of the day, I believe that Dorian Gray led a worthless life. His eternal youth counted for nothing. He never grew as a person, and he used the bounteous gifts he'd been given selfishly. He did horrible things that made it even worse. He was lucky in that he didn't live long enough to count the full cost of those actions. He allowed the portrait to take the weight of those sins intead of letting them rest where they belonged. If anything really bothers me as a person, it's the thought of my time on this earth being wasted. Never having accomplished anything of value. For that reason, I found Dorian Gray to be a very sad man, but I could not feel sorry for him.

So, is this a horror novel, you might ask?

I think this is a thinking person's horror novel. It is a study of how the sins we commit cannot be hidden, even if we lie to ourselves about that. Interestingly enough, Mr. Wilde does not elaborate on what vile acts Dorian committed. We are left to our own expansive imaginations to surmise the bulk of what he'd done. Some people don't believe in such a thing as sin. If you don't believe in sin, how could it have a cost? It didn't matter that Dorian Gray didn't acknowledge his sins. They caught up with him in the end. The horror is how he confronted the consequences of his sins, yet turned away from them, locking that manifestation away in the attic to view with a detached sort of curiosity. The horror is the lives he destroyed, but never felt more than a moment's remorse. Fundamentally, Dorian Gray was an angelically beautiful monster. The horror is that we can look upon beauty, and we can be fooled into never asking what lies beneath it.

(Book 809 from 1001 books) - The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine.

The Picture of Dorian Gray begins on a beautiful summer day in Victorian era England, where Lord Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil's ultimate muse.

While sitting for the painting, Dorian listens to Lord Henry espousing his hedonistic world view, and begins to think that beauty is the only aspect of life worth pursuing.

This prompts Dorian to wish that the painted image of himself would age instead of himself. ...

تصویر دوریان گری - اسکار وایلد انتشاراتیها (کانون معرفت؛ مهرگان، دبیر؛ کمانگیر، جمهوری، جاوید، هزاره نو، آموزش و سنجش، جامی کمانگیر، نگاه، همشهری، افق، نشر علم) ادبیات، تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه ژوئن سال 1987میلادی

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ تهران، کانون معرفت، 1327، در 108ص موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایرلند - سده 19م

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: رضا مشایخی (فرهاد)؛ تهران، کانون معرفت، 1344، در 295ص

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: داریوش شاهین؛ تهران، مهرگان، 1353، در 429ص

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مقدمه: آندره موروا؛ علی دشتی؛ مترجم: رضا مشایخی؛ تهران، کمانگیر، 1363، در 339ص

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: همایون نوراحمر؛ تهران، جمهوری، 1366، در 408ص

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: همایون نوراحمر؛ تهران، دبیر، جاوید، 1369، در 407ص

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: حبیب گوهری راد؛ تهران، هزاره نو، 1383، در 323ص، شابک 96439289232؛

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: لیلی فردهی؛ تهران، آموزش و سنجش، 1388، در 208ص، شابک9786005177183؛

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: همایون جوانمردی؛ تهران، جامی کمانگیر، 1388، در 303ص، شابک9789642575644؛

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: ابوالقاسم تهامی؛ تهران، نگاه، 1391، در 312ص، شابک 9789643517939؛

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: حسین زمانی؛ تهران، همشهری، 1391، در 61ص، شابک 9789642412044؛

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: محسن سلیمانی؛ تهران، افق، 1393، در 255ص، شابک 9789643698690؛

عنوان: تصویر دوریان گری؛ شاهکار: اسکار وایلد؛ مترجم: رویا منجم؛ تهران، نشر علم، 1393، در 280ص، شابک 9789642243204؛

رمان گوتیک، فلسفی، و شاهکار «اسکار وایلد»، نویسنده ی مشهور اهل «ایرلند» است؛ «اسکار وایلد»، با نگارش این رمان، و البته نمایشنامه «اهمیت ارنست بودن»، به شهرت جهانی رسیدند؛ «تصویر دوریان گری»، به سبب تازگی موضوع، و شاید به سبب آنکه چهره ی خود نویسنده را، می‌نمایاند، آوازه ای بزرگ یافت؛ «وایلد» با این اثر تمثیلی، خواسته اند نشان دهند «همچنانکه هر قطره‌ ای در دریا، به مروارید ویژه، تغییر شکل می‌دهد، در عالم هنر نیز، هرچه وارد شود، به زیباترین تبدیل می‌گردد»؛

این رمان در سال 1890میلادی نوشته شده؛ یعنی ده سال پیش از درگذشت «اسکار وایلد» بزرگوار؛

هشدار: «اگر خود میخواهید کتاب را بخوانید از خوانش ادامه ی این ریویو خودداری کنید.»؛

دوریان گری، نام جوانی خوش‌ سیما، و برازنده‌ است، که تنها، به زیبایی و لذت پایبند است؛ و پس از آنکه دوست نقاشش، از او پرتره ای در کمال زیبایی، و جوانی میکشد، با دیدن آن پرتره، از اندیشه ی گذشت زمان، و نابودی جوانی و زیبایی، در اندوهی ژرف فرومی‌رود، پس در همان لحظه، آرزو می‌کند، که چهره ی خودش، پیوسته جوان و شاداب بماند، و در عوض گذشت زمان و پیری و پلیدی‌ها، بر تصویر او، به پرتره ی او منتقل شود؛ پس از مدتی، متوجه می‌شود، که آرزویش برآورده شده؛ ولی یکی از دوستان او، به نام «لرد هنری»، کم‌ کم او را به راه‌های پلید می‌کشاند، و تصویر دوریان گری، در پرتره، به مرور، پیرتر، پلیدتر، و کریه تر می‌شود؛ «دوریان گری»، به مرور، تا جایی پلید می‌شود، که نخستین قتل خود را، انجام می‌دهد، و نقاش پرتره ی خویش «بسیل هاوارد» را می‌کشد؛ او با گذشت زمان، هر روز چهره ی خود را، در پرتره اش فرسوده‌ تر، و پیرتر می‌بیند، اما راهی برای از بین بردن پلیدی‌ها، پیدا نمی‌کند، ناگهان خشمگین می‌شود و چاقوی بلندی را در قلب مرد درون تصویر در پرتره، فرو می‌کند؛ در همان لحظه، مستخدمان صدای جیغ کریهی می‌شنوند، و به سوی اتاق «دوریان گری» می‌شتابند؛ آن‌ها تصویر ارباب خویش را، در بوم نقاشی می‌بینند، که در کمال جوانی و زیبایی است، آنچنانکه خود هماره آن پرتره را می‌دیدند، اما بر زمین، جسد مردی نقش بسته است، در لباسی آراسته، و کاردی در قلب، با پلیدترین و کریه‌ ترین چهره ی قابل تصور؛ که تنها از انگشترهایی که به دستش بود، می‌شد هویت او را شناخت...؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 14/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

opowiesc o mlodym oraz wybitnie pieknym mezczyznie, ktory bedac portretowanym wymawia zyczenie- chce, by to na obrazie malowaly sie jego grzechy i starosc, by nic z tego nie dotknelo jego wlasnej twarzy.
to meandry na temat ludzkiej proznosci, sensu piekna, i ,klasycznie- moranosci.
wspaniale i kunsztownie wykreowany portret (sory xd) psychologiczny doriana greya, tak samo jak jego przemiana. styl pisania natomiast byl moze nawet nader kwiecisty, pelen metafor i ubarwien, co w pewnym momencie potrafilo mnie zmeczyc.
chce tez zaznaczyc, iz ta recenzja nie jest w pelni obiektywna, ze wzgledu na moje umilowanie do konwersacji o moralnosci.
z pewnoscia warto pochylic sie nad ta ksiazka!

this book still finished me but i change my mind about the rating LMAO

Lord Henry was one arrogant mf but God i love him

Consequence
The Picture of Dorian Gray, apart from being a classic work of literature and written by one of the greatest writers of all time, is a book that has readers searching for meaning and it opens up a debate on the consequences of our actions. The consequence of remaining young and transferring the ageing process to a portrait was more than just the outward reflection of Dorian Gray, it also affected his internal soul and moral compass. Along with the painter Basil Hallward and his associate Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian's life takes a direction into hedonistic behaviour.

What price would you be willing to pay to remain young? It's one of those age-old fantasies, would you challenge nature? Would you challenge lawfulness? Would you challenge morality? Could your conscience remain clear? Like I said it opens up debate and poses questions that hypothetically we love to ponder.

Given those choices, Dorian Gray challenged them all, as their immediate consequences seemed to evade him, his character eroded over the years. When he wants to know the true nature of his character he only has to view the Portrait and he will see the transference of his soul manifested into physical appearance presented in its most horrific detail. Can there be any redemption?

It's Oscar Wilde, so expect literary genius as he fills each page with wonderful poetic prose and the delicate way he constructs characters and builds the interactions between them. I've watched the film adaptations of this story but the book far exceeds the intent and the challenge to our sense of morality.

A book I highly recommend and it may be surprising to know that it was Oscar Wilde's only novel.

This was beautiful and ugly. It doesn't shy away from revealing the hideousness, how vain and vulnerable human nature is.

n  n    "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 picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul."n  n

And so begins this tale of art and sin.

I would highly recommend first watching the movie Wilde, a film which takes the audience on a journey through the life of the tormented writer, from the beginnings of his fame to his later incarceration for "gross indecency" - a charge used to imprison individuals when it was impossible to prove sodomy. Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labour and died not long after being freed due to health problems gained during those two years. Looking at Wilde's story from a twenty-first century perspective, it is sad and horrifying to realise this man was indirectly sentenced to death for being gay. The "hard labour" prescribed was carried out in various ways but one of the most common was the treadmill:



This machine made prisoners walk continuously uphill for hours on end and had many long-term effects on people's health.

Why do I think it's important to know this? Because, as Wilde claims, in every piece of art there is more of the artist than anything else. And I believe this is especially true of The Picture of Dorian Gray more than perhaps any other fictional work I've read. In this novel, Wilde explores the nature of sin, of morality and immorality. The homoerotic undertones between Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton are, I think, the author's little expression of his own secret "sins" within his work. Rarely does a work of fiction so deeply seem to mirror elements of the author's life.

By 1891, when The Picture of Dorian Gray was published, Oscar Wilde had met and fallen in love with Lord Alfred Douglas and they had begun a semi-secret affair. By which I mean that many were suspicious of the relationship but didn't argue with Wilde's claims that they shared a Socrates/Plato teacher/student kind of love. The idolisation of Dorian Gray's youth and beauty, his tendency to be mean at random... these characteristics all fit with the description and personality of Lord Alfred Douglas. For me, there is no real question as to whether part of Dorian is meant to be Mr Wilde's lover.

I think if you familiarise yourself with Oscar Wilde, this becomes a very personal novel, much more than just a disturbing horror story where a man sells his soul. But even without any additional information, I think this is a sad and haunting book that tells of the joyful naivete of youth and the sad wisdom of maturity.

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*gay drama*

I'll never forgive Oscar Wilde for the painful bore that was Chapter 11.