What do you think?
El retrato de Dorian Gray
Cuando Oscar Wilde legó al mundo su obra magna, nadie supo que se trataba de una versión censurada. Aunque la esencia de la novela permaneció, aquellos detalles considerados por la sociedad de su tiempo como «escandalosos» e «inmorales» fueron suprimidos por el editor. Por fortuna, el texto mecanografiado original, entregado a Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine en 1890, fue conservado y, después de 120 años, revelado al mundo. La edición que el lector tiene en sus manos es nada menos que esta misma: «El retrato de Dorian Gray» en su versión íntegra y sin censura; es decir, tal y como Oscar Wilde la concibió originalmente y, más aún, con las adiciones que escribió después, ofreciendo así una experiencia única de lectura. Con una traducción impecable y un trabajo de ilustración excepcional, sin más que decir, invitamos al lector a retirar la cortina, así como ocurre en la historia, y revelar el verdadero retrato de Dorian Gray.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1890
About the author
Oscar Wilde
5,962 books40.2k followersOscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his criminal conviction for gross indecency for homosexual acts.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
Wilde's parents were Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin. In his youth, Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German. At university, he read Greats; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist, first at Trinity College Dublin, then at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism, led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles.
Wilde tried his hand at various literary activities: he wrote a play, published a book of poems, lectured in the United States and Canada on "The English Renaissance" in art and interior decoration, and then returned to London where he lectured on his American travels and wrote reviews for various periodicals. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill, Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into what would be his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde returned to drama, writing Salome (1891) in French while in Paris, but it was refused a licence for England due to an absolute prohibition on the portrayal of Biblical subjects on the English stage. Undiscouraged, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late-Victorian London.
At the height of his fame and success, while An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) were still being performed in London, Wilde issued a civil writ against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. The Marquess was the father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. The libel hearings unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and criminal prosecution for gross indecency with other males. The jury was unable to reach a verdict and so a retrial was ordered. In the second trial Wilde was convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labour, the maximum penalty, and was jailed from 1895 to 1897. During his last year in prison he wrote De Profundis (published posthumously in abridged form in 1905), a long letter that discusses his spiritual journey through his trials and is a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure. On the day of his release, he caught the overnight steamer to France, never to return to Britain or Ireland. In France and Italy, he wrote his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life.
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February 20, 2023SO I HAVE THIS ON DISPLAY IN THE CLASSICS SECTION AND JUST OVERHEARD A TEENAGE BOY TELL HIS FRIEND “This is the uncensored version but I’ve heard it’s pretty tame, like no smut or anything :/“ AND HE SOUNDED GENUINELY DISAPPOINTED 😭
August 17, 2022
This specific edition of Dorian Gray said, “no censorship, we shall lust after our homies like MEN.”
May 10, 2021
One star for every time this asshole threw himself dramatically across a sofa
Read
November 18, 2021When you reread a book after many years, it can seem like a different book. Time transforms it. Strokes of brilliance you were unable to spot the first time for lack of reading experience can emerge second time around, but for the same reason, flaws you were blind to back then become visible to your jaded eyes. I remember being very impressed by Lord Henry Wotton's ability to speak in epigrams the first time I read this book—witty speeches were one of the things I loved in Wilde's plays back then, and Lord Henry offers one epigram after another, almost without pause:
"I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else."
"Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed."
"The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid."
But as I was reading the book this time, Lord Henry's string of well-honed phrases became too much for me. Say something unrehearsed, I kept urging him, but he never did—and as if he'd heard me ask, he said instead: "Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know."
Still, I did notice that Oscar Wilde gave Lord Henry some awareness of his annoying tendency to aphorise—though it doesn't seem to bother him much: "Those who are faithful know only the pleasures of love: it is the faithless who know love's tragedies." And Lord Henry struck a light on a dainty silver case, and began to smoke a cigarette with a self-conscious and self-satisfied air, as if he had summed up life in a phrase.
His creator put a lot of himself into Lord Henry, I reckon.
But perhaps what made the biggest difference to my reading of Dorian Gray this time was the connections I saw with books I'd read in the intervening years.
I figured, for example, that the unnamed yellow book that Lord Henry offers Dorian Gray, and which artist Basil Hallward blames for causing Dorian to sink into a life of decadence, could only be JK Huysmans' Against Nature.
And when Dorian starts to lead two very different lives, I was reminded of Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Then when Dorian drives a young actress called Sibyl Vane to suicide, I remembered the story of Lermontov's Hero, Pechorin, who did something similar.
When Dorian later gets involved with a farmer's daughter called Hetty, I was back in the world of Eliot's Adam Bede.
I wondered if Wilde had read all those books too.
However, the story that had the most connections with Dorian Gray is one Wilde couldn't have read. Vladimir Nabokov's The Vane Sisters was written long after Wilde's time and could almost be said to be haunted by Wilde's novel. Nabokov names a character after Sibyl Vane (though he spells her name Sybil), and he makes Oscar Wilde appear at a seance and accuse Nabokov (or his narrator) of plagiarism!
Nabokov's story is a real puzzle in fact, and when I reviewed it recently, I was left with a sense of something unfinished. It was as if Nabokov were haunting me, whispering in my ear: go find the original of Sybil. That's why I went back to this book.
Truth to tell, I had little recollection of Sibyl Vane's role in Wilde's novel, and it doesn't seem at first as if she has much of role. She is an actress who falls in love with Dorian near the beginning of the book, he treats her badly and she commits suicide. End of Sibyl.
In Nabokov's story, Sybil Vane is not an actress though she is a bit of a drama queen. She too falls in love with someone whose name is only given as D.
D dumps Sybil just as Dorian did, and she commits suicide. That happens in the first few pages of Nabokov's story, and you'd expect that she would then disappear from the narrative. But Nabokov decided otherwise. He invented a plot around the possibility that a dead person can haunt the people they've known in life and direct their fate. He then sets up opportunities for Sybil to influence other people's lives, in particular her sister Cynthia's. Cynthia dies in turn and starts directing things in another character's life, bringing about the denouement of the story.
All of that was to the forefront of my mind as I reread Dorian Gray and so I interpreted Wilde's story in a new way. I began to see Dorian's dead lover Sibyl as responsible for the mysterious disintegration that happens to the portrait he keeps in his attic. Wilde implies that the portrait gets transformed because Dorian has done something despicable, and that it transforms further with every evil deed, but the only explanation for the phenomenon given in the story is the wish Dorian made when he first saw the portrait: that he might always look as beautiful as he did when Basil Hallward painted him, and that the painting might age instead of him.
Nabokov convinced me that it was the dead girl who was behind the changes in the portrait, or most of them. After all, it is directly after she dies that Dorian sees the first transformation. I imagined that Sibyl, who was used to acting the part of famous heroines in very dramatic scenes and in front of a range of painted backdrops, was now giving her best and most vengeful performance ever.
And when Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the portrait that Sibyl has been altering, dies in turn, I interpreted the denouement of the story as him vengefully intervening to make it happen—and restore the painting he loved to its former beauty.
So thanks for helping me to see Wilde's text in a new way, Vlad. It's almost as if you intervened and transformed the text.
"I don't care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else."
"Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious: both are disappointed."
"The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid."
But as I was reading the book this time, Lord Henry's string of well-honed phrases became too much for me. Say something unrehearsed, I kept urging him, but he never did—and as if he'd heard me ask, he said instead: "Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know."
Still, I did notice that Oscar Wilde gave Lord Henry some awareness of his annoying tendency to aphorise—though it doesn't seem to bother him much: "Those who are faithful know only the pleasures of love: it is the faithless who know love's tragedies." And Lord Henry struck a light on a dainty silver case, and began to smoke a cigarette with a self-conscious and self-satisfied air, as if he had summed up life in a phrase.
His creator put a lot of himself into Lord Henry, I reckon.
But perhaps what made the biggest difference to my reading of Dorian Gray this time was the connections I saw with books I'd read in the intervening years.
I figured, for example, that the unnamed yellow book that Lord Henry offers Dorian Gray, and which artist Basil Hallward blames for causing Dorian to sink into a life of decadence, could only be JK Huysmans' Against Nature.
And when Dorian starts to lead two very different lives, I was reminded of Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Then when Dorian drives a young actress called Sibyl Vane to suicide, I remembered the story of Lermontov's Hero, Pechorin, who did something similar.
When Dorian later gets involved with a farmer's daughter called Hetty, I was back in the world of Eliot's Adam Bede.
I wondered if Wilde had read all those books too.
However, the story that had the most connections with Dorian Gray is one Wilde couldn't have read. Vladimir Nabokov's The Vane Sisters was written long after Wilde's time and could almost be said to be haunted by Wilde's novel. Nabokov names a character after Sibyl Vane (though he spells her name Sybil), and he makes Oscar Wilde appear at a seance and accuse Nabokov (or his narrator) of plagiarism!
Nabokov's story is a real puzzle in fact, and when I reviewed it recently, I was left with a sense of something unfinished. It was as if Nabokov were haunting me, whispering in my ear: go find the original of Sybil. That's why I went back to this book.
Truth to tell, I had little recollection of Sibyl Vane's role in Wilde's novel, and it doesn't seem at first as if she has much of role. She is an actress who falls in love with Dorian near the beginning of the book, he treats her badly and she commits suicide. End of Sibyl.
In Nabokov's story, Sybil Vane is not an actress though she is a bit of a drama queen. She too falls in love with someone whose name is only given as D.
D dumps Sybil just as Dorian did, and she commits suicide. That happens in the first few pages of Nabokov's story, and you'd expect that she would then disappear from the narrative. But Nabokov decided otherwise. He invented a plot around the possibility that a dead person can haunt the people they've known in life and direct their fate. He then sets up opportunities for Sybil to influence other people's lives, in particular her sister Cynthia's. Cynthia dies in turn and starts directing things in another character's life, bringing about the denouement of the story.
All of that was to the forefront of my mind as I reread Dorian Gray and so I interpreted Wilde's story in a new way. I began to see Dorian's dead lover Sibyl as responsible for the mysterious disintegration that happens to the portrait he keeps in his attic. Wilde implies that the portrait gets transformed because Dorian has done something despicable, and that it transforms further with every evil deed, but the only explanation for the phenomenon given in the story is the wish Dorian made when he first saw the portrait: that he might always look as beautiful as he did when Basil Hallward painted him, and that the painting might age instead of him.
Nabokov convinced me that it was the dead girl who was behind the changes in the portrait, or most of them. After all, it is directly after she dies that Dorian sees the first transformation. I imagined that Sibyl, who was used to acting the part of famous heroines in very dramatic scenes and in front of a range of painted backdrops, was now giving her best and most vengeful performance ever.
And when Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the portrait that Sibyl has been altering, dies in turn, I interpreted the denouement of the story as him vengefully intervening to make it happen—and restore the painting he loved to its former beauty.
So thanks for helping me to see Wilde's text in a new way, Vlad. It's almost as if you intervened and transformed the text.
July 2, 2026
im absolutely enamoured by oscar wilde's prose and wit. i want to smoke a blunt w lord henry...after liz (pridenprejudice) beats the slight sexism out of him.
rip dorian gray you wouldve loved lip filler & red light therapy... and lord henry, you would love that nic+caffeine+ claude combo
rip dorian gray you wouldve loved lip filler & red light therapy... and lord henry, you would love that nic+caffeine+ claude combo
October 6, 2012
This original version is SO MUCH BETTER than the version that has been read by everyone for the past 120 years. I had thought that Wilde's original uncensored typescript was different only by a few "bad" words unacceptable to the Victorians. Well, I was completely wrong!
His first editors, and then Wilde himself, removed and altered substantial content, nearly all homoerotic, in response to severe and unrelenting criticism before and after its first magazine publication in 1890. In addition to this criticism, Wilde was deeply fearful he would be prosecuted under the new anti-homosexual behavior law which came into effect in England five years earlier in 1885, but which he hadn't taken seriously until then.
For the first book edition in 1891 (reprinted countless times down to the present) Wilde even added seven more chapters with heterosexual content to counter the now-toned-down homosexual relationships between Dorian Gray and his admirers (lovers) Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. These new chapters also offer up an easy moral which makes the altered book too easy, too obvious, at the end.
You probably don't believe me, but just forget that you already read Dorian Gray, and read Wilde's uncensored original: it's much more edgy and honest, offers a less conclusive moral—thus giving more credit to his readers—and it doesn't sacrifice Dorian's essential homosexuality, and that of Wilde himself.
If you need an excuse to re-read this amazing book, this is it. Trust me.
His first editors, and then Wilde himself, removed and altered substantial content, nearly all homoerotic, in response to severe and unrelenting criticism before and after its first magazine publication in 1890. In addition to this criticism, Wilde was deeply fearful he would be prosecuted under the new anti-homosexual behavior law which came into effect in England five years earlier in 1885, but which he hadn't taken seriously until then.
For the first book edition in 1891 (reprinted countless times down to the present) Wilde even added seven more chapters with heterosexual content to counter the now-toned-down homosexual relationships between Dorian Gray and his admirers (lovers) Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. These new chapters also offer up an easy moral which makes the altered book too easy, too obvious, at the end.
You probably don't believe me, but just forget that you already read Dorian Gray, and read Wilde's uncensored original: it's much more edgy and honest, offers a less conclusive moral—thus giving more credit to his readers—and it doesn't sacrifice Dorian's essential homosexuality, and that of Wilde himself.
If you need an excuse to re-read this amazing book, this is it. Trust me.
August 18, 2021
Oscar Wilde’s editor: but what do we do about the gays.. I mean how do we get rid of them
February 1, 2018
All the characters in this book assume wrongly some kind of positive correlation between a person's looks and his characters - as if we are born pure and beautiful; each immoral act committed by a person leaves imprinted a Cain's mark on his or her face. I don't know whether writer suffered from this kind of lookism - for Dorin's painting actually got uglier and uglier with each wicked act done by him, or maybe Wilde was criticising prejudice - for Dorin did remain to look handsome despite all wrongs he did.
Now things like principles, conscience, soul, morality etc great interest me - for I have none of my own. I often wonder what people mean conscience - remember reading somewhere it is the feeling that someone is watching or it is just 'sentimentalization of herd morality. as Eurus Holmes would have put it. Wilde seems to suggest it is the sight of one's own soul (used to mean 'a sort of map showing imprints of one's moral and immoral actions'; for lack of better word) - the portrait is supposed to be picture of Dorin Grey's soul; Grey is uncomfortable by the mere sight or idea of it and thus calls it his (oh! so very bad) conscience. It is thus people with bad conscience live - too conscious of their evil. Unlike most literary tragic characters who end miserably after choosing the path of folly and whose worlds break down to punish them; Grey was repeatedly saved from his punishment - he just couldn't live any longer with conscious of his own inner ugliness. He did try making amends- only it was too late - "Had it been merely vanity that had made him do his one good deed? Or the desire for a new sensation, as Lord Henry had hinted, with his mocking laugh? Or that passion to act a part that sometimes makes us do things finer than we are ourselves? Or, perhaps, all these?"
Now things like principles, conscience, soul, morality etc great interest me - for I have none of my own. I often wonder what people mean conscience - remember reading somewhere it is the feeling that someone is watching or it is just 'sentimentalization of herd morality. as Eurus Holmes would have put it. Wilde seems to suggest it is the sight of one's own soul (used to mean 'a sort of map showing imprints of one's moral and immoral actions'; for lack of better word) - the portrait is supposed to be picture of Dorin Grey's soul; Grey is uncomfortable by the mere sight or idea of it and thus calls it his (oh! so very bad) conscience. It is thus people with bad conscience live - too conscious of their evil. Unlike most literary tragic characters who end miserably after choosing the path of folly and whose worlds break down to punish them; Grey was repeatedly saved from his punishment - he just couldn't live any longer with conscious of his own inner ugliness. He did try making amends- only it was too late - "Had it been merely vanity that had made him do his one good deed? Or the desire for a new sensation, as Lord Henry had hinted, with his mocking laugh? Or that passion to act a part that sometimes makes us do things finer than we are ourselves? Or, perhaps, all these?"
June 5, 2021
I made a long-ass review last night and Goodreads just decided not to post it. Now I'm here, enraged, rewriting it... I took a really long time reading this book and usually this would be a bad sign, but not here darling. This art piece is absolutely MARVELLOUS, STUNNING, AND ELEGANT, AND MAGNIFICENT. Ugh, I love it so much. The writing is the best thing ever, so poetic, so thoughtfulness, and filled with paradoxes, and beautifully written descriptions. Oscar, thank you for blessing us with this.
Seriously, look at that: "he repeated her name over and over again. The birds that were singing in the dew-drenched garden seemed to be telling the flowers about her." I can't even start saying how beautiful this entire quote is. So fucking lovely. And this too: "I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain." this is what I expect to hear from my partner on my wedding day (said partner does not exist yet). And this simple: "You are more to me than all art can ever be" so short and yet so exquisite. Yeah, I'm sure I'm in love with this book. I can keep on quoting it until the day of my death...
About the characters. There is a maximum of 3 sane people in this book, basil being one of them. Basil is the only one with a sense of self-preservation and he is very sensible. I loved him and he deserved better. Henry is just a very bad influence, but his ideas are so ludicrous that half the time all you can do is laugh at it because it's unbelievable what he's saying. Take a look at one: "The people who have adored me-- there have not been very many, but there have been some-- have always insisted on living on, long after I had ceased to care for them, or they to care for me." sometimes i have no words...
Dorian Gray could be good, but he followed Henry like a sheep. So, basically, he is horrible and yet he seems so real. The contradiction of his thoughts, the regrets, the sadness, the rage, the doubt, reading the things that go through his mind is fascinating. He tries to justify everything he does and it's just fun and interesting to read.
This book subtly criticizes a lot of things from that century and from life in general. You can analyze Dorian from a good range of perspectives. He and Henry represent a lot of things at the same time. I think the main topic here is how we are obsessed with beauty and good image. Dorian talks about killing himself as soon as he turns old and ugly. And this was in his century, now it's only worse. We all have this idea in our heads that our purpose in life is to be beautiful... like, seriously? If there's something I agree with Henry is that we should be seeking for new sensations in life (not opio and screwing people every day, please). It can give us so many things and yet we are so worried about something as superficial as the beauty we're portraying to the world...
"I have talked enough for today. All I want now is to look at life. You may come and look at it with me, if you care to."
I'll just keep rambling about how good this is. I couldn't give it less than 5 stars, and I'm sure I'll never forget this experience. Everyone should give a chance and read something by Oscar Wilde.
"The world has changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history"
Seriously, look at that: "he repeated her name over and over again. The birds that were singing in the dew-drenched garden seemed to be telling the flowers about her." I can't even start saying how beautiful this entire quote is. So fucking lovely. And this too: "I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain." this is what I expect to hear from my partner on my wedding day (said partner does not exist yet). And this simple: "You are more to me than all art can ever be" so short and yet so exquisite. Yeah, I'm sure I'm in love with this book. I can keep on quoting it until the day of my death...
About the characters. There is a maximum of 3 sane people in this book, basil being one of them. Basil is the only one with a sense of self-preservation and he is very sensible. I loved him and he deserved better. Henry is just a very bad influence, but his ideas are so ludicrous that half the time all you can do is laugh at it because it's unbelievable what he's saying. Take a look at one: "The people who have adored me-- there have not been very many, but there have been some-- have always insisted on living on, long after I had ceased to care for them, or they to care for me." sometimes i have no words...
Dorian Gray could be good, but he followed Henry like a sheep. So, basically, he is horrible and yet he seems so real. The contradiction of his thoughts, the regrets, the sadness, the rage, the doubt, reading the things that go through his mind is fascinating. He tries to justify everything he does and it's just fun and interesting to read.
This book subtly criticizes a lot of things from that century and from life in general. You can analyze Dorian from a good range of perspectives. He and Henry represent a lot of things at the same time. I think the main topic here is how we are obsessed with beauty and good image. Dorian talks about killing himself as soon as he turns old and ugly. And this was in his century, now it's only worse. We all have this idea in our heads that our purpose in life is to be beautiful... like, seriously? If there's something I agree with Henry is that we should be seeking for new sensations in life (not opio and screwing people every day, please). It can give us so many things and yet we are so worried about something as superficial as the beauty we're portraying to the world...
"I have talked enough for today. All I want now is to look at life. You may come and look at it with me, if you care to."
I'll just keep rambling about how good this is. I couldn't give it less than 5 stars, and I'm sure I'll never forget this experience. Everyone should give a chance and read something by Oscar Wilde.
"The world has changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history"
October 30, 2022
”I knew that if I spoke to Dorian I would become absolutely devoted to him and I ought not speak to him.”
the power of Oscar Wilde will never cease to amaze me.
May 9, 2023
3.5 stars
Welp! I thought what they meant with that title is that I will find some smut. Unfortunately this was not the case.
Anyhoo the writing is amazing kept me going.
Welp! I thought what they meant with that title is that I will find some smut. Unfortunately this was not the case.
Anyhoo the writing is amazing kept me going.
December 6, 2023
rip dorian gray you would have loved tiktok thirst traps
March 21, 2020
Uno de los últimos referentes del terror gótico del siglo XIX, este libro sigue sorprendiendo en la actualidad por la originalidad de su planteamiento (cuanto menos sepas de ella, infinitamente mejor), por los claroscuros de sus personajes principales y por las reflexiones que pone sobre la mesa sobre el arte, el hedonismo y la doble moral victoriana. Un libro ingenioso, a la altura de su creador, que tuvo que enfrentarse a la censura de la época por el evidente carácter homoerótico de algunas de sus escenas. No os lo podéis perder (y si es en la versión sin censura, mucho mejor).
RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX2kr...
RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX2kr...
April 8, 2021
Dorian Gray:🧖😈
The Picture:👹
The Picture:👹
June 30, 2015
This is not going to be an usual review. If you want to read my original review for this book, go here.
I didn't know there was an uncensored version of this book until a few months ago. As soon as I discovered that, I looked for the book everywhere. Believe it or not, it was difficult for me to finally grab hold of one copy. I had completely forgotten about it, but recently I read The Importance of Being Earnest, and An Ideal Husband. After reading those plays, I soon became totally obsessed with Oscar Wilde, to the point where I made it my new challenge to read every single one of his works.
As you may expect, I suddenly remembered about this book. I kid you not when I say it was sudden: I was coming from the university walking, thinking about what of the plays I should read next, and then this book came to my mind. As soon as I got home, I started it without a moment's delay.
I do not regret it. If it was not clear in the popular version of The Picture of Dorian Gray why it was banned, then in this one you cannot miss it.
The story is just the same, so what is the difference and why is this edition worth reading? The characters and their actions. And I'm mainly talking about Basil Hallward.
He was that man who created the portrait that totally ruined Dorian's innocence (of course it was not the picture's fault, but it was what triggered it, as well as Lord Henry's talks). He had an obsession with Dorian – to the point where one might classify it as a romantic feel. In the version I read last year, it was obvious he had homosexual tendencies, but in this one? It was more than clear.
For example, I'm 100% sure this passage did not appear in the popular version of this book:
With passages like that, it's pretty obvious why this book was so hated by the Victorian society. This does not mean that I am scandalized at that, because I'm not.
Other things that were quite different (but actually don't add more “essence” to the story) was that subplot about Sybil Vane's brother. In this book, he does not appear. Sybil's death in this book is not made such a fuss. It's just there to show how Dorian's conscience changed. I imagine Wilde added the subplot I mentioned to “please” more the general public and to make them forget about the slightly conflicting passages.
Also, remember the book Dorian was so obsessed with? Well, in this edition, that book has a name and it is described more specifically. The importance of this book for Dorian is not changed in the popular (censored) version, but its identity is not hidden from us.
The rest of the book stays basically the same, but I'm really glad I finally read this, as it is how Wilde originally intended his masterpiece to be.
If you love The Picture of Dorian Gray, then I suggest you read this too. You can see more of Wilde in it (you know I really love books in which it's clear the author put a lot of himself in it), and if you don't already appreciate him, then this will make you love him more. Again, I say this: He was a genius and I wish I could let him know how much he is appreciated now.
P.S.: I suggest you watch the movie Wilde too. It's really great in my opinion.
I didn't know there was an uncensored version of this book until a few months ago. As soon as I discovered that, I looked for the book everywhere. Believe it or not, it was difficult for me to finally grab hold of one copy. I had completely forgotten about it, but recently I read The Importance of Being Earnest, and An Ideal Husband. After reading those plays, I soon became totally obsessed with Oscar Wilde, to the point where I made it my new challenge to read every single one of his works.
As you may expect, I suddenly remembered about this book. I kid you not when I say it was sudden: I was coming from the university walking, thinking about what of the plays I should read next, and then this book came to my mind. As soon as I got home, I started it without a moment's delay.
I do not regret it. If it was not clear in the popular version of The Picture of Dorian Gray why it was banned, then in this one you cannot miss it.
The story is just the same, so what is the difference and why is this edition worth reading? The characters and their actions. And I'm mainly talking about Basil Hallward.
He was that man who created the portrait that totally ruined Dorian's innocence (of course it was not the picture's fault, but it was what triggered it, as well as Lord Henry's talks). He had an obsession with Dorian – to the point where one might classify it as a romantic feel. In the version I read last year, it was obvious he had homosexual tendencies, but in this one? It was more than clear.
For example, I'm 100% sure this passage did not appear in the popular version of this book:
It is quite true that I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a friend. Somehow, I had never loved a woman. (...) I quite admit that I adored you madly, extravagantly, absurdly. I was jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you. When I was away from you, you were still present in my art.
With passages like that, it's pretty obvious why this book was so hated by the Victorian society. This does not mean that I am scandalized at that, because I'm not.
Other things that were quite different (but actually don't add more “essence” to the story) was that subplot about Sybil Vane's brother. In this book, he does not appear. Sybil's death in this book is not made such a fuss. It's just there to show how Dorian's conscience changed. I imagine Wilde added the subplot I mentioned to “please” more the general public and to make them forget about the slightly conflicting passages.
Also, remember the book Dorian was so obsessed with? Well, in this edition, that book has a name and it is described more specifically. The importance of this book for Dorian is not changed in the popular (censored) version, but its identity is not hidden from us.
The rest of the book stays basically the same, but I'm really glad I finally read this, as it is how Wilde originally intended his masterpiece to be.
If you love The Picture of Dorian Gray, then I suggest you read this too. You can see more of Wilde in it (you know I really love books in which it's clear the author put a lot of himself in it), and if you don't already appreciate him, then this will make you love him more. Again, I say this: He was a genius and I wish I could let him know how much he is appreciated now.
P.S.: I suggest you watch the movie Wilde too. It's really great in my opinion.
March 29, 2023
the uncensored version isn't actually that much gayer... the three (3) forewords were lying to me
either way, i have always thought The Picture of Dorian Gray to just be okay - if that makes me a bad gay so be it
read as part of 202-Queer 🌈✨
either way, i have always thought The Picture of Dorian Gray to just be okay - if that makes me a bad gay so be it
read as part of 202-Queer 🌈✨
June 7, 2020
(edición sin censura)
El libro casi arranca con la escena de Basil diciéndole a Lord Henry que el cuadro pintado no puede exponerlo por que "He puesto demasiado de mí mismo en él". Pero realmente, Wilde, nos está diciendo que ha puesto mucho de él mismo y más en esta edición original sin censura. Por si teníamos alguna duda, está esa frase recogida en una carta, donde Wilde dice: "Basil Hallward es lo que creo ser; Lord Henry Wotton, lo que el mundo cree que soy; Dorian Gray, lo que quizás me habría gustado ser en otro tiempo."
Los sentimientos de Basil hacia Dorian recogen los sentimientos de Wilde hacia Lord Albert Douglas en la vida real. Hay cierto parecido físico entre Dorian y Douglas. También nos dice Basil: " todo retrato pintado con emoción es un retrato del artista, no del modelo"... "Temo haber mostrado en él el secreto de mi propia alma".
A Dorian nos lo presentan a través de su retrato: "una criatura hermosa sin cerebro", un joven de 17 años. Cuando Henry conoce a Dorian, Basil le dice "posee una naturaleza sencilla y hermosa" y le advierte "No lo estropees por mí. No intentes influenciarlo". Pero Henry siembra la semilla en él, ¿¡qué fácil es manipular a Dorian!?.
Henry empieza por reconocer que "Toda influencia es inmoral .. Influenciar a una persona es entregarle nuestra propia alma. Esta deja de pensar con sus pensamientos naturales... No son reales sus virtudes. Sus pecados...son prestados... El propósito de la vida...es descubrir la propia naturaleza.... El cuerpo peca una vez y acaba con el pecado, pues la acción es un modo de purificación.... La única forma de librarnos de una tentación es rendirnos a ella. Resistid, y vuestra alma enfermará...
Henry continúa "la juventud es la única cosa en el mundo que merece la pena poseer" - en estos momentos Dorian aún sigue siendo "puro" una "rosa blanca" : ¿Qué importa?"..." No lo siento así". (cuando Henry le dice que se ponga a la sombra en el jardín para no marchitar su belleza)
Y Henry sigue sembrando... La perentoriedad de la juventud y la belleza." Sea consciente de su juventud mientras la posea.... Vaya siempre en busca de nuevas sensaciones. No le tenga miedo a nada."
Todo esto es lo que lleva a Dorian a decir ante su retrato:"¡Qué triste es! Me haré viejo, y desagradable y repulsivo. Pero este retrato seguirá siendo joven. Nunca seré más viejo que en este día de junio. ¡Ojalá fuera al revés! ¡Qué yo pudiera ser siempre joven y el cuadro el que fuera envejeciendo! ¡Así es, no hay nada que no diera a cambio! Uno de los momentos cumbre del libro.
Dorian: "Tengo celos de todas las cosas cuya belleza no muere. Tengo celos del retrato..". Aquí ya ha cambiado nuestro inocente muchacho. Incluso Basil lo detecta: "Hallward miraba estupefacto. Era tan impropio de Dorian hablar así", ante el comentario de su retrato.
"¡Un nuevo hedonismo! Eso es lo que nuestro siglo necesita. Usted podría ser su símbolo visible." El hedonismo identifica la felicidad con el placer. Y dentro de las distintas opciones, Wilde se queda con el arte. La belleza, la superficialidad de Dorian de rodearse y acumular cosas "bellas" como el caro juego de plata.
Pero más adelante, ya alcanzada la mayoría de edad y habiendo descubierto los efectos sobre el cuadro, se reafirma: iba a ser como "Henry había profetizado, un nuevo hedonismo que recrearía la vida y la salvaría de ese severo y carente de atractivo puritanismo". Experimentar directamente sin límites, seguir con su "desarrollo intelectual", la religión, estudiar los perfumes, los instrumentos musicales, las joyas, los tejidos y bordados... Manifestaciones de la belleza y el arte.
Lord Henry es el personaje corruptor, juega con Dorian desde el principio. Incluso en la relación con Sybil Vane: Dorian, al día siguiente, estaba arrepentido, incluso se planteaba volver y casarse con ella. Pero Henry consigue darle la vuelta y que ese posible duelo y arrepentimiento acabe convertido en una salida a la ópera.
Dorian realmente no estaba enamorado de Sybil. Se sentía atraído por su juventud y belleza. Por eso no supo entender el fallo en la interpretación. Era una actriz que cada día interpreta un papel (representaba "todas las heroínas poéticas"), que incluso en su muerte representó el papel de una tragedia griega. "¡Qué diferente es una actriz! ¿Por qué no me dijiste, Harry, que una actriz es la única criatura digna de ser amada?".
"(Henry:) - ¿Cuándo hace de Sybil Vane?
(Dorian:) - Nunca."
"(Dorian:) ¿Cómo habría interpretado aquella funesta escena? - refiriéndose al suicidio de Sybil-"
Otro de los momentos cumbre es cuando Dorian descubre la mueca en el cuadro y es consciente de que "el retrato soportaría la carga de su verguenza: eso era todo".
¡Qué fácil dejarse llevar por el afán de experimentar y vivir la vida, tal como le había adoctrinado Henry con todas sus enseñanzas!
Solo..... "Un sentimiento de dolor se apoderó de él al pensar en la profanación que aguardaba al hermoso rostro del lienzo." El narcisismo y el hedonismo: besar aquellos labios pintados, quedarse sentado ante el retrato, una mañana tras otra, maravillado ante la belleza de su retrato.
Por un momento pensó en rezar para que el vínculo con el cuadro se rompiese, pero ¿¡Quién podría resistirse a la tentación de permanecer siempre joven!?. Pero luego se lo pensó mejor ;-) "Jamás volvería a tentar con una plegaria a ningún terrible poder. Si el cuadro iba a cambiar, cambiaría." Se convertiría en el espejo de su alma y "él estaría a salvo".
Basil es el personaje "noble" en esta trama. Sus sentimientos hacia Dorian son sinceros, se siente un poco dolido cuando Dorian "empieza a volar" y le abandona; a pesar de lo que siente por él, es capaz de felicitarle cuando Dorian le anuncia su compromiso; se preocupa por su amigo cuando se entera de la muerte de Sybil; aunque ya no tengan casi contacto, se sigue preocupando de él y va a su casa antes de irse de viaje a París para advertirle de los rumores sobre su conducta.
Basil podría haber ejercido un poco de la voz de Pepito grillo, la conciencia de Dorian, pero sus sentimientos le impedían hacerle reproches. Además, si la cara es el reflejo del alma, con esa belleza inmaculada en la cara, era inconcebible una conducta inmoral o perversa en su amigo Dorian.
¡Qué diferente podría haber sido todo para Basil/Wilde en otra época menos intransigente y moralista con este tipo de sentimientos y relaciones!
Y llegamos al asesinato de Basil. En un ataque de soberbia, Dorian decide mostrarle el retrato, el reflejo de su alma corrupta. "Me ha destruído él (retrato) a mí." "Todos llevamos el cielo y el infierno dentro". Dorian sollozando junto a la ventana. Basil, diciéndole a Dorian que rece. Y en un arrebato de odio, asesina a Basil. Le culpa de hacerle sufrir y arruinar su vida más que Henry. - Discrepo, tener el retrato ayuda, pero sin las ideas de Henry, ni siquiera habría formulado aquel deseo. Henry dice que Dorian es su creación y yo también lo veo así. Aunque reconozco que son necesarios los dos. Con ideas y sin retrato, habría sido un pobre desgraciado. Con retrato sin ideas, tal vez habría seguido siendo un inocente muchacho y habría madurado de otra forma.-. De cualquier forma, ya hemos subido otro peldaño, hemos matado con nuestras manos. Fríamente, sin remordimientos, prepara la coartada, busca como deshacerse del cadáver involucrando a otra persona, alguien que también había sido su amigo, Alan Campbell. Sabe que consecuencias puede tener para Alan, pero no le importa chantajearle.
Parece que Dorian intenta una fase de redención, de "buenas acciones", con Hetty, abandonarla antes de deshonrarla. Pero Henry, una vez más, le hace abrir los ojos: será una desgraciada. Y la constatación de su motivación llega cuando mira el retrato, la mancha roja era más grande.
El espejo en que mira su alma es injusto. Solo queda una salida, acabar con la prueba del asesinato, "matar el cuadro" y con él su pasado para así liberarse, sin saber que ambos estaban unidos, cuerpo y alma o el pasado forma parte del presente.
Tengo que decir que me ha resultado un libro tedioso de leer, para lo corto que es me lo he tenido que leer en cuatro días (a ratos, sin mucho tiempo y adormeciendome por la noche), pesado y denso como él solo. Demasiado filosófico, demasiados detalles. Uff no sabéis lo que he agradecido que fuese corto.
Debo ser una lectora muy simple.
He disfrutado más parándome a pesar tranquilamente lo que había leído. Una Semi segunda lectura en diagonal. Es cuando he visto matices en mis notas guardadas.
Valoración: 6/10
Lectura: junio 2020
El libro casi arranca con la escena de Basil diciéndole a Lord Henry que el cuadro pintado no puede exponerlo por que "He puesto demasiado de mí mismo en él". Pero realmente, Wilde, nos está diciendo que ha puesto mucho de él mismo y más en esta edición original sin censura. Por si teníamos alguna duda, está esa frase recogida en una carta, donde Wilde dice: "Basil Hallward es lo que creo ser; Lord Henry Wotton, lo que el mundo cree que soy; Dorian Gray, lo que quizás me habría gustado ser en otro tiempo."
Los sentimientos de Basil hacia Dorian recogen los sentimientos de Wilde hacia Lord Albert Douglas en la vida real. Hay cierto parecido físico entre Dorian y Douglas. También nos dice Basil: " todo retrato pintado con emoción es un retrato del artista, no del modelo"... "Temo haber mostrado en él el secreto de mi propia alma".
A Dorian nos lo presentan a través de su retrato: "una criatura hermosa sin cerebro", un joven de 17 años. Cuando Henry conoce a Dorian, Basil le dice "posee una naturaleza sencilla y hermosa" y le advierte "No lo estropees por mí. No intentes influenciarlo". Pero Henry siembra la semilla en él, ¿¡qué fácil es manipular a Dorian!?.
Henry empieza por reconocer que "Toda influencia es inmoral .. Influenciar a una persona es entregarle nuestra propia alma. Esta deja de pensar con sus pensamientos naturales... No son reales sus virtudes. Sus pecados...son prestados... El propósito de la vida...es descubrir la propia naturaleza.... El cuerpo peca una vez y acaba con el pecado, pues la acción es un modo de purificación.... La única forma de librarnos de una tentación es rendirnos a ella. Resistid, y vuestra alma enfermará...
Henry continúa "la juventud es la única cosa en el mundo que merece la pena poseer" - en estos momentos Dorian aún sigue siendo "puro" una "rosa blanca" : ¿Qué importa?"..." No lo siento así". (cuando Henry le dice que se ponga a la sombra en el jardín para no marchitar su belleza)
Y Henry sigue sembrando... La perentoriedad de la juventud y la belleza." Sea consciente de su juventud mientras la posea.... Vaya siempre en busca de nuevas sensaciones. No le tenga miedo a nada."
Todo esto es lo que lleva a Dorian a decir ante su retrato:"¡Qué triste es! Me haré viejo, y desagradable y repulsivo. Pero este retrato seguirá siendo joven. Nunca seré más viejo que en este día de junio. ¡Ojalá fuera al revés! ¡Qué yo pudiera ser siempre joven y el cuadro el que fuera envejeciendo! ¡Así es, no hay nada que no diera a cambio! Uno de los momentos cumbre del libro.
Dorian: "Tengo celos de todas las cosas cuya belleza no muere. Tengo celos del retrato..". Aquí ya ha cambiado nuestro inocente muchacho. Incluso Basil lo detecta: "Hallward miraba estupefacto. Era tan impropio de Dorian hablar así", ante el comentario de su retrato.
"¡Un nuevo hedonismo! Eso es lo que nuestro siglo necesita. Usted podría ser su símbolo visible." El hedonismo identifica la felicidad con el placer. Y dentro de las distintas opciones, Wilde se queda con el arte. La belleza, la superficialidad de Dorian de rodearse y acumular cosas "bellas" como el caro juego de plata.
Pero más adelante, ya alcanzada la mayoría de edad y habiendo descubierto los efectos sobre el cuadro, se reafirma: iba a ser como "Henry había profetizado, un nuevo hedonismo que recrearía la vida y la salvaría de ese severo y carente de atractivo puritanismo". Experimentar directamente sin límites, seguir con su "desarrollo intelectual", la religión, estudiar los perfumes, los instrumentos musicales, las joyas, los tejidos y bordados... Manifestaciones de la belleza y el arte.
Lord Henry es el personaje corruptor, juega con Dorian desde el principio. Incluso en la relación con Sybil Vane: Dorian, al día siguiente, estaba arrepentido, incluso se planteaba volver y casarse con ella. Pero Henry consigue darle la vuelta y que ese posible duelo y arrepentimiento acabe convertido en una salida a la ópera.
Dorian realmente no estaba enamorado de Sybil. Se sentía atraído por su juventud y belleza. Por eso no supo entender el fallo en la interpretación. Era una actriz que cada día interpreta un papel (representaba "todas las heroínas poéticas"), que incluso en su muerte representó el papel de una tragedia griega. "¡Qué diferente es una actriz! ¿Por qué no me dijiste, Harry, que una actriz es la única criatura digna de ser amada?".
"(Henry:) - ¿Cuándo hace de Sybil Vane?
(Dorian:) - Nunca."
"(Dorian:) ¿Cómo habría interpretado aquella funesta escena? - refiriéndose al suicidio de Sybil-"
Otro de los momentos cumbre es cuando Dorian descubre la mueca en el cuadro y es consciente de que "el retrato soportaría la carga de su verguenza: eso era todo".
¡Qué fácil dejarse llevar por el afán de experimentar y vivir la vida, tal como le había adoctrinado Henry con todas sus enseñanzas!
Solo..... "Un sentimiento de dolor se apoderó de él al pensar en la profanación que aguardaba al hermoso rostro del lienzo." El narcisismo y el hedonismo: besar aquellos labios pintados, quedarse sentado ante el retrato, una mañana tras otra, maravillado ante la belleza de su retrato.
Por un momento pensó en rezar para que el vínculo con el cuadro se rompiese, pero ¿¡Quién podría resistirse a la tentación de permanecer siempre joven!?. Pero luego se lo pensó mejor ;-) "Jamás volvería a tentar con una plegaria a ningún terrible poder. Si el cuadro iba a cambiar, cambiaría." Se convertiría en el espejo de su alma y "él estaría a salvo".
Basil es el personaje "noble" en esta trama. Sus sentimientos hacia Dorian son sinceros, se siente un poco dolido cuando Dorian "empieza a volar" y le abandona; a pesar de lo que siente por él, es capaz de felicitarle cuando Dorian le anuncia su compromiso; se preocupa por su amigo cuando se entera de la muerte de Sybil; aunque ya no tengan casi contacto, se sigue preocupando de él y va a su casa antes de irse de viaje a París para advertirle de los rumores sobre su conducta.
Basil podría haber ejercido un poco de la voz de Pepito grillo, la conciencia de Dorian, pero sus sentimientos le impedían hacerle reproches. Además, si la cara es el reflejo del alma, con esa belleza inmaculada en la cara, era inconcebible una conducta inmoral o perversa en su amigo Dorian.
¡Qué diferente podría haber sido todo para Basil/Wilde en otra época menos intransigente y moralista con este tipo de sentimientos y relaciones!
Y llegamos al asesinato de Basil. En un ataque de soberbia, Dorian decide mostrarle el retrato, el reflejo de su alma corrupta. "Me ha destruído él (retrato) a mí." "Todos llevamos el cielo y el infierno dentro". Dorian sollozando junto a la ventana. Basil, diciéndole a Dorian que rece. Y en un arrebato de odio, asesina a Basil. Le culpa de hacerle sufrir y arruinar su vida más que Henry. - Discrepo, tener el retrato ayuda, pero sin las ideas de Henry, ni siquiera habría formulado aquel deseo. Henry dice que Dorian es su creación y yo también lo veo así. Aunque reconozco que son necesarios los dos. Con ideas y sin retrato, habría sido un pobre desgraciado. Con retrato sin ideas, tal vez habría seguido siendo un inocente muchacho y habría madurado de otra forma.-. De cualquier forma, ya hemos subido otro peldaño, hemos matado con nuestras manos. Fríamente, sin remordimientos, prepara la coartada, busca como deshacerse del cadáver involucrando a otra persona, alguien que también había sido su amigo, Alan Campbell. Sabe que consecuencias puede tener para Alan, pero no le importa chantajearle.
Parece que Dorian intenta una fase de redención, de "buenas acciones", con Hetty, abandonarla antes de deshonrarla. Pero Henry, una vez más, le hace abrir los ojos: será una desgraciada. Y la constatación de su motivación llega cuando mira el retrato, la mancha roja era más grande.
El espejo en que mira su alma es injusto. Solo queda una salida, acabar con la prueba del asesinato, "matar el cuadro" y con él su pasado para así liberarse, sin saber que ambos estaban unidos, cuerpo y alma o el pasado forma parte del presente.
Tengo que decir que me ha resultado un libro tedioso de leer, para lo corto que es me lo he tenido que leer en cuatro días (a ratos, sin mucho tiempo y adormeciendome por la noche), pesado y denso como él solo. Demasiado filosófico, demasiados detalles. Uff no sabéis lo que he agradecido que fuese corto.
Debo ser una lectora muy simple.
He disfrutado más parándome a pesar tranquilamente lo que había leído. Una Semi segunda lectura en diagonal. Es cuando he visto matices en mis notas guardadas.
Valoración: 6/10
Lectura: junio 2020
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2018
Παντοτινή ομορφιά.
Ματαιοδοξία.
Ηδονισμός.
Εσωτερικός διχασμός.
Αμαρτία.
Θεία Δίκη.
Δεν έχω πολλά λόγια να πω γι’ αυτό το λογοτεχνικό αριστούργημα.
Το διάβασα στην αγγλική γλώσσα και θαύμασα το ταλέντο του συγγραφέα.
Το έργο αυτό αποτελεί τροφή για σκέψη και τα θέματά του είναι πιο επίκαιρα από ποτέ.
Όπως εύστοχα διάβασα κάπου είναι ένα «βιβλίο που δεν γερνά».
Ματαιοδοξία.
Ηδονισμός.
Εσωτερικός διχασμός.
Αμαρτία.
Θεία Δίκη.
Δεν έχω πολλά λόγια να πω γι’ αυτό το λογοτεχνικό αριστούργημα.
Το διάβασα στην αγγλική γλώσσα και θαύμασα το ταλέντο του συγγραφέα.
Το έργο αυτό αποτελεί τροφή για σκέψη και τα θέματά του είναι πιο επίκαιρα από ποτέ.
Όπως εύστοχα διάβασα κάπου είναι ένα «βιβλίο που δεν γερνά».
May 13, 2026
One of the most striking observations one can take away from this book is how truly free we are in our current age. Because if this was heavily altered, censored, and still then ultimately accepted as evidence in order to criminally prosecute, condemn and arrest the author, it makes me short of breath to imagine what it was like to live day to day trapped in such a society.
The book itself is lovely, fast-paced, woven with skill and it is most likely the wittiest piece of literature I have ever read, to the point where it sometimes even bored me, overwhelmed me; but it is no wonder that Oscar Wilde is one of the most quotable writers of all times. Its plot is immediately captivating, unshakable, enthralling. Its characters are few, which I adore, and its scenarios as well: feeling at home in its world comes easily and quickly. The novel often does feel like a play, in the best sense possible, because it holds its atmosphere from the beginning to the very end, with only a couple of moments where it dwells deliberately on some sightseeings that it cannot do without due to the political nature of its contents. But these are easily forgiven when the complete journey is so particularly pleasant.
I feel like I can finally say I know of Wilde. I've read a lot of his poetry, but none of his plays and this is my first contact with Dorian Gray, and it will remain this way, I've decided. I feel privileged and lucky to have access to this uncensored edition, and I feel no curiosity towards the one that was received by the sexually paranoid people of England. It is my own little solidarity protest.
The book itself is lovely, fast-paced, woven with skill and it is most likely the wittiest piece of literature I have ever read, to the point where it sometimes even bored me, overwhelmed me; but it is no wonder that Oscar Wilde is one of the most quotable writers of all times. Its plot is immediately captivating, unshakable, enthralling. Its characters are few, which I adore, and its scenarios as well: feeling at home in its world comes easily and quickly. The novel often does feel like a play, in the best sense possible, because it holds its atmosphere from the beginning to the very end, with only a couple of moments where it dwells deliberately on some sightseeings that it cannot do without due to the political nature of its contents. But these are easily forgiven when the complete journey is so particularly pleasant.
I feel like I can finally say I know of Wilde. I've read a lot of his poetry, but none of his plays and this is my first contact with Dorian Gray, and it will remain this way, I've decided. I feel privileged and lucky to have access to this uncensored edition, and I feel no curiosity towards the one that was received by the sexually paranoid people of England. It is my own little solidarity protest.
October 31, 2024
Short summary of my review
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great read for anyone who believes to like stories about the soul and body and how easily it can get influenced or 'stained'. The character development for me in this book took me by surprise as I didn't expect it to turn out in the way it did. A few chapters before the ending was a tense moment, which felt like a great plot twist as I didn't expect the things that happened there. Despite Dorian Gray appearing to be smart and proofing it multiple times, he did some fatal mistakes that could have ended very badly for him. So, it left me confused as to why he was rewarded with luck, for his not well-thought-out plan.
Disclaimer
I read the original edition, which is the uncensored version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Note
The following review is spoiler free, which misses a few aspects. If you want to see the spoiler review with every aspect, read my StoryGraph review.
The Review
This book gave me a rollercoaster. I heard from other reviews that this book apparently is about the love of painting, which it surely wasn't. So, while I read the book I expected to see what so many said, but I was left confused, when it never appeared. The book isn't about the love of painting, it's about the soul and the body.
The painter in the story, Basil Hallward, seemed to be the protagonist at the start, but it changed quickly or was not even ever the case, as the book is about Dorian Gray, his painting and the way his soul changes.
I also liked Dorian Gray more at first as he appeared to be the most innocent and kind-hearted character in the whole story. He was, but not for long. So I changed my opinion at some point, liking Basil Hallward more than Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray had such a strong character development, but to the worse, that I changed my whole opinion about him. I usually don't do this in books, it rarely happens to me actually, so when I saw how I changed my opinion I was like: Wait a minute, did this author, the one I didn't like (I read some other work of him) actually manage to influence me that much? I read 'Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast' and I only gave it 2 stars as there were some stuff I agreed on, but not a lot and out of nowhere the same author manages to take me by surprise. It surely was a big surprise, specially as I thought initially before reading this book that I probably won't like it. But here I am, liking it. It's amazing how fast one can change their opinion about an author when they read more works of named author.
The way how Dorian Gray's soul changed over a long period of time instead of a short period of time or even just immediately, was a realistic way how long it actually takes, especially if you aren't under the age of 6 anymore. Even though he had a great influence on his soul and mindset, it took him long for it to change him to a completely new person. The whole journey from it was very interesting to read about and made me realise better than any other book probably could tell me, how strong an influence really can be. Influences are something that shouldn't be taken lightly and I know this now.
Dorian Gray doesn't live on spiritual sensory, but through pleasurable experience, which is Hedonism.
In case you don't know what Hedonism is, this whole paragraph will be reserved for this. If you know already what it is, skip to the next paragraph.
Explanation from the book:
Explanation by myself:
Hedonism is a life style which is characterised by joy and happiness. People who follow this life style strive for happiness and avoid pain, sorrow, et cetera at all cost.
He didn't live this life style from the start of the book, but one can see how it changed him completely at some point.
While I read this change, I was just like Basil Hallward sad about it. I wasn't sure what to do, I liked Dorian Gray at first, but it changed all out of the sudden.
Regardless of that there were other interesting parts in this book. Basil Hallward himself. Even though he wasn't the protagonist as I first thought, he was my favourite at the end. He never cared for any fame or great reputation. His friendship with Dorian Gray was more important to him. This shows how much he actually liked him and how kind he can be.
Every time Basil Hallward talked to Dorian Gray, tried to maintain his friendship with Dorian Gray, despite the things that happened, I felt so sad for him. I didn't pity Basil, but I felt like he deserved better. All I wanted was to help him, but I was just a reader of this story.
He never gave up on Dorian Gray. That passion he had over their friendship was so admirable. Basil felt like a true friend. Someone you know who has your back, no matter what.
Their whole relationship was interesting to get to know. Basil also tells how he first encountered Dorian Gray. I can't blame him for trying to keep him for himself, Dorian Gray was like a secret diamond no one discovered yet.
A few chapters before the ending was a tense moment, which felt like a great plot twist as I didn't expect the things that happened there. Since it wasn't a thriller book I didn't automatically looked out for hints that could lead to a plot twist, but I think there actually wasn't really one as the twist was about something that happened many years before this event. Also the way I thought I knew what will happen as soon as it was hinted on and then the end of this whole thing was again something I didn't expect!
Despite Dorian Gray appearing to be smart and proofing it multiple times, he did some fatal mistakes that could have ended very badly for him. So, it left me confused as to why he was rewarded with luck, for his not well-thought-out plan. Though I like the ending of this book, which wouldn't have happened if he wouldn't have been lucky. The ending is just like the rest of the book a reflective way to show how important it is to have a good soul and body.
Read: 31. October 2024
Reviewed: 1. November 2024
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great read for anyone who believes to like stories about the soul and body and how easily it can get influenced or 'stained'. The character development for me in this book took me by surprise as I didn't expect it to turn out in the way it did. A few chapters before the ending was a tense moment, which felt like a great plot twist as I didn't expect the things that happened there. Despite Dorian Gray appearing to be smart and proofing it multiple times, he did some fatal mistakes that could have ended very badly for him. So, it left me confused as to why he was rewarded with luck, for his not well-thought-out plan.
Disclaimer
I read the original edition, which is the uncensored version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Note
The following review is spoiler free, which misses a few aspects. If you want to see the spoiler review with every aspect, read my StoryGraph review.
The Review
This book gave me a rollercoaster. I heard from other reviews that this book apparently is about the love of painting, which it surely wasn't. So, while I read the book I expected to see what so many said, but I was left confused, when it never appeared. The book isn't about the love of painting, it's about the soul and the body.
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
The painter in the story, Basil Hallward, seemed to be the protagonist at the start, but it changed quickly or was not even ever the case, as the book is about Dorian Gray, his painting and the way his soul changes.
I also liked Dorian Gray more at first as he appeared to be the most innocent and kind-hearted character in the whole story. He was, but not for long. So I changed my opinion at some point, liking Basil Hallward more than Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray had such a strong character development, but to the worse, that I changed my whole opinion about him. I usually don't do this in books, it rarely happens to me actually, so when I saw how I changed my opinion I was like: Wait a minute, did this author, the one I didn't like (I read some other work of him) actually manage to influence me that much? I read 'Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast' and I only gave it 2 stars as there were some stuff I agreed on, but not a lot and out of nowhere the same author manages to take me by surprise. It surely was a big surprise, specially as I thought initially before reading this book that I probably won't like it. But here I am, liking it. It's amazing how fast one can change their opinion about an author when they read more works of named author.
The way how Dorian Gray's soul changed over a long period of time instead of a short period of time or even just immediately, was a realistic way how long it actually takes, especially if you aren't under the age of 6 anymore. Even though he had a great influence on his soul and mindset, it took him long for it to change him to a completely new person. The whole journey from it was very interesting to read about and made me realise better than any other book probably could tell me, how strong an influence really can be. Influences are something that shouldn't be taken lightly and I know this now.
Dorian Gray doesn't live on spiritual sensory, but through pleasurable experience, which is Hedonism.
In case you don't know what Hedonism is, this whole paragraph will be reserved for this. If you know already what it is, skip to the next paragraph.
Explanation from the book:
[...]a new Hedonism that was to recreate life, and to save it from that harsh, uncomely puritanism that is having, in our own day, its curious revival. It was to have its service of the intellect, certainly; yet, it was never to accept any theory or system that would involve the sacrifice of any mode of passionate experience. Its aim, indeed, was to be experience itself, and not the fruits of experience, sweet or bitter as they might be.
Explanation by myself:
Hedonism is a life style which is characterised by joy and happiness. People who follow this life style strive for happiness and avoid pain, sorrow, et cetera at all cost.
He didn't live this life style from the start of the book, but one can see how it changed him completely at some point.
‘Dorian, this is horrible! Something has changed you completely. You look exactly the same wonderful boy who, day after day, used to come down to my studio to sit for his picture. But you were simple, natural, and affectionate then. You were the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now I don’t know what has come over you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you.[...]’
While I read this change, I was just like Basil Hallward sad about it. I wasn't sure what to do, I liked Dorian Gray at first, but it changed all out of the sudden.
Regardless of that there were other interesting parts in this book. Basil Hallward himself. Even though he wasn't the protagonist as I first thought, he was my favourite at the end. He never cared for any fame or great reputation. His friendship with Dorian Gray was more important to him. This shows how much he actually liked him and how kind he can be.
‘[...]Your friendship is dearer to me than any fame or reputation.’
Every time Basil Hallward talked to Dorian Gray, tried to maintain his friendship with Dorian Gray, despite the things that happened, I felt so sad for him. I didn't pity Basil, but I felt like he deserved better. All I wanted was to help him, but I was just a reader of this story.
He never gave up on Dorian Gray. That passion he had over their friendship was so admirable. Basil felt like a true friend. Someone you know who has your back, no matter what.
‘It is too late, Basil,’ he faltered.
‘It is never too late, Dorian.[...]’
Their whole relationship was interesting to get to know. Basil also tells how he first encountered Dorian Gray. I can't blame him for trying to keep him for himself, Dorian Gray was like a secret diamond no one discovered yet.
A few chapters before the ending was a tense moment, which felt like a great plot twist as I didn't expect the things that happened there. Since it wasn't a thriller book I didn't automatically looked out for hints that could lead to a plot twist, but I think there actually wasn't really one as the twist was about something that happened many years before this event. Also the way I thought I knew what will happen as soon as it was hinted on and then the end of this whole thing was again something I didn't expect!
Despite Dorian Gray appearing to be smart and proofing it multiple times, he did some fatal mistakes that could have ended very badly for him. So, it left me confused as to why he was rewarded with luck, for his not well-thought-out plan. Though I like the ending of this book, which wouldn't have happened if he wouldn't have been lucky. The ending is just like the rest of the book a reflective way to show how important it is to have a good soul and body.
Read: 31. October 2024
Reviewed: 1. November 2024
October 19, 2018
Here's my interpretation of what this novel is about (spoilers ahead).
Lord Henry is a gossip and all talk. He likes to enchant refined socialites with tales about all the things that they're too proper to try, yet he too would never do anything to compromise his reputation. Dorian follows him blindly, taking Henry at his (untrustworthy) word, because Dorian doesn't like to do the hard work of thinking for himself (which he is ultimately forced to do at the end of the book). Henry is usually interpreted as bisexual because he's fixated with Dorian and more flirty with him than with other people. He wants to impress Dorian more than anyone else, and wants to impress Dorian more than doing anything else. At first, Dorian is vulnerable to Henry's charms because he grew up as an orphan. He wants someone to look up to, and Henry steps up to the plate, to Basil's horror and jealousy.
Basil's painting of Dorian captures Dorian's soul because Basil put his own soul into the painting. Basil thinks he only figuratively put his soul into it. Basil gives himself up to win Dorian's praise and attentions and can't stop painting Dorian after that. He's in love with Dorian (this is clear in the standard version, but even clearer in the uncensored version) and meets the same fate as Sibyl (who Dorian loved the most). Basil was an acclaimed painter, then he gives it up for love, and loses Dorian's interest. Sibyl was a talented actor, then she gives it up for love, and loses Dorian's interest. (This is when Dorian's at his most unlikeable, and even he feels guilty at this point. Not guilty enough to do the hard work of self-evaluation and becoming a better person, though.)
Dorian is (virtually always interpreted as) bisexual but he doesn't care about people beyond the pleasure they can bring him (the pleasures of good art, fun experiences, and the pleasures of the flesh). He thinks being an aficionado of art and the sexual arts makes him more worldly and enlightened than other people. Better than other people. He can show them pleasures that they've never known. He's like a god (the characters compare him to various Greco-Roman gods). But he's not above other people - he's literally a demon. He doesn't give proportionately to what he takes. He's supernatural; not a part of nature.
Dorian gets art and freedom from sex, works of art (perfume, jewels, musical instruments, etc.), and from going to social events; whereas transcendentalists (a popular philosophy during the 1800s) believed in nature as the source of true beauty, spirituality, and freedom. Maybe Dorian is looking for beauty and freedom in all the wrong places. Indeed, he's not terribly free - he's a slave to Henry's yellow book of immoral codes. Dorian thinks he's liberated from society's rules and expectations, but he's blindly following a rule book on how not to live by Victorian rules.
That reminds me of Alice's in Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, because Alice's goal is to find a book that has all the rules. Wonderland's weirdness subverts all the Victorian rules that she was taught and she becomes forced to think for herself and moderate her temper. Dorian and the yellow book similarly subvert the rules to the point where things are chaos and moderation doesn't exist, so Dorian is forced to think for himself and moderate his own behavior. He has to finally look at himself in the mirror (painting) and honestly face what he has become.
Lord Henry is a gossip and all talk. He likes to enchant refined socialites with tales about all the things that they're too proper to try, yet he too would never do anything to compromise his reputation. Dorian follows him blindly, taking Henry at his (untrustworthy) word, because Dorian doesn't like to do the hard work of thinking for himself (which he is ultimately forced to do at the end of the book). Henry is usually interpreted as bisexual because he's fixated with Dorian and more flirty with him than with other people. He wants to impress Dorian more than anyone else, and wants to impress Dorian more than doing anything else. At first, Dorian is vulnerable to Henry's charms because he grew up as an orphan. He wants someone to look up to, and Henry steps up to the plate, to Basil's horror and jealousy.
Basil's painting of Dorian captures Dorian's soul because Basil put his own soul into the painting. Basil thinks he only figuratively put his soul into it. Basil gives himself up to win Dorian's praise and attentions and can't stop painting Dorian after that. He's in love with Dorian (this is clear in the standard version, but even clearer in the uncensored version) and meets the same fate as Sibyl (who Dorian loved the most). Basil was an acclaimed painter, then he gives it up for love, and loses Dorian's interest. Sibyl was a talented actor, then she gives it up for love, and loses Dorian's interest. (This is when Dorian's at his most unlikeable, and even he feels guilty at this point. Not guilty enough to do the hard work of self-evaluation and becoming a better person, though.)
Dorian is (virtually always interpreted as) bisexual but he doesn't care about people beyond the pleasure they can bring him (the pleasures of good art, fun experiences, and the pleasures of the flesh). He thinks being an aficionado of art and the sexual arts makes him more worldly and enlightened than other people. Better than other people. He can show them pleasures that they've never known. He's like a god (the characters compare him to various Greco-Roman gods). But he's not above other people - he's literally a demon. He doesn't give proportionately to what he takes. He's supernatural; not a part of nature.
Dorian gets art and freedom from sex, works of art (perfume, jewels, musical instruments, etc.), and from going to social events; whereas transcendentalists (a popular philosophy during the 1800s) believed in nature as the source of true beauty, spirituality, and freedom. Maybe Dorian is looking for beauty and freedom in all the wrong places. Indeed, he's not terribly free - he's a slave to Henry's yellow book of immoral codes. Dorian thinks he's liberated from society's rules and expectations, but he's blindly following a rule book on how not to live by Victorian rules.
That reminds me of Alice's in Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, because Alice's goal is to find a book that has all the rules. Wonderland's weirdness subverts all the Victorian rules that she was taught and she becomes forced to think for herself and moderate her temper. Dorian and the yellow book similarly subvert the rules to the point where things are chaos and moderation doesn't exist, so Dorian is forced to think for himself and moderate his own behavior. He has to finally look at himself in the mirror (painting) and honestly face what he has become.
April 15, 2025
4.5/5
I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.
I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.
October 13, 2019
Es una novela a la que te aproximas teniendo ya una idea más o menos clara de su argumento, pero me he encontrado con algo mucho más profundo.
Me ha parecido una maravilla de novela. No se muy bien como argumentarlo pero me ha impactado profundamente.
La edición que he leído es de Reino de Cordelia, e indican que es una edición “sin censura “, basada en un texto encontrado en 2011 y publicado por Harvard University Press, siendo al parecer más fiel al texto concebido originalmente por Oscar Wilde.
Según indica la contraportada, “Oscar Wilde, temeroso de la reacción moralista de la sociedad victoriana, auto censuró aún más la edición en libro... añadiendo más páginas para matizar aspectos turbios y cortando por la sano los elementos homoeroticos”
Sea como sea, me gustado muchísimo.
Me ha parecido una maravilla de novela. No se muy bien como argumentarlo pero me ha impactado profundamente.
La edición que he leído es de Reino de Cordelia, e indican que es una edición “sin censura “, basada en un texto encontrado en 2011 y publicado por Harvard University Press, siendo al parecer más fiel al texto concebido originalmente por Oscar Wilde.
Según indica la contraportada, “Oscar Wilde, temeroso de la reacción moralista de la sociedad victoriana, auto censuró aún más la edición en libro... añadiendo más páginas para matizar aspectos turbios y cortando por la sano los elementos homoeroticos”
Sea como sea, me gustado muchísimo.
July 10, 2023
"Art, like Nature, has her monsters.”
Oscar Wilde was many things, but as it pertains to this novel, he was brave. Wilde knew that submitting this novel for publication as it was opened himself up to danger. Maybe it was arrogance, but he did not fully realize the risk. He did not realize until later the danger of the cold metal of a locked cell, the danger of years stolen. Wilde wanted to show how hypocritical Victorian society was about morality, and in doing so he wrote some of himself into the story, as Basil Hallward says of the Portrait “I have put too much of myself into it.”
Perhaps, we are all hypocrites.
This is my second reading of the uncensored version, but this time I decided to read it along side the “official” version. I wanted to compare and contrast the two, decide which was better, and understand why certain revisions were necessary.
Spoiler: it’s complicated.
Publishers decided to cut entire scenes, sentences and phrases to water down the homosexual overtones. When I compare what was altered, I’m shocked by how much these revisions remove from the power of the novel. IF Wilde’s original choices were added back to the popularized version today, well, folks, we’d have the perfect novel on our hands.
Let me be clear: the fear of homosexuality around the time of publication was rising due to an amendment in 1885 to criminal law that made any “gross indecency” between men illegal. This meant that ANY act of perceived intimacy could send you to jail—a caress, a kiss on the cheek, a longing look.
In 1889 The Cleveland Street Scandal was popularized in the news. Celebrities and even royals were implicated in this scandal, and ultimately The Cleveland Street Scandal resulted in even more moral panic about sexuality and sin.
All of these negative feelings boiled over with Oscar Wildes libel trial against the Marquess of Queensberry in 1895. Wilde had been running around with Queensberry’s son, and Queensberry was determined to destroy Wilde. He left a calling card at one of the Clubs Wilde frequented calling him a sodomite, and Wilde used this as basis for a libel accusation. In doing so, Wilde hoped that Queensberry would leave him alone. Instead, Queensberry used this as an opportunity to launch an investigation into Wilde’s lifestyle, and turn the libel trial into a charge against Wilde for gross indecency.
London was hungry for blood. Unfortunately for Wilde, he was the one who fed them. He was convicted of gross indecency and served two years of hard labor in prison. Which, for the record, consisted of torturous activities like walking on essentially the equivalent of a stair master or treadmill for 6-10 HOURS at a time while isolated from others. This was outlawed in later years.
Wilde would later say of Queensberry & the trial:
“My whole life is ruined by this man.” He then proceeded to say “the tower of ivory is assailed by the foul thing. On the sand is my life split.”
For birthing The Picture of Dorian Gray into the world Wilde paid a high price—was it worth it? As a reader, I’d say so. The novel is important not just because of it’s historical importance, it contains so much knowledge, so many gorgeous pieces of prose. Wilde was a wordsmith. Nearly every page of my copy is underlined, starred, or highlighted in some way. Dorian Gray is a dog eared mess, and that is the sign of a perennial read. Something to come back to at different seasons in life, and always something to glean.
“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them, and yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words!” (One of my favorite passages)
“Days in summer, Basil, are apt to linger.”
“The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry they dare not realize.”
“There is a luxury in self reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
“I know what conscience is, to begin with. It is not what you told me it was. It is the divinest thing in us.”
“The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.”
What this novel makes up for in rawness, it loses some in the notorious chapter nine (chapter 11 in the regular version.) It is so tedious and BORING. You could skip almost the entire chapter and not lose anything. It is designed to show just how annoying Dorian has grown, but goodness, I think Wilde could have achieved this with perhaps a paragraph or two, not pages and pages of description. I would be remiss to not mention this absolutely unnecessary creative decision. Like, we get it. Art for arts sake. Dorian is obsessed with beautiful things, he’s a glutton. Theres something to be said for letting the story breathe, but keep the plot rolling, don’t stifle it!
I’m going to focus on the themes that apply most to Wilde’s original intentions, before edits were made to disguise hints of homoeroticism and moral degradation of youth. For more on other themes, see my other review of the edition classrooms around the world know well. (coming soon!)
In this version masculinity is allowed to be soft. There are moments of gentle caress, sharing of vacation homes, longing looks, sharp double meanings. In the other version, any sign of effeminate sentiment is cut. Which is a shame, because the tangled relationship between the three men of this book are the pillars this story is built on.
Basil Hallward represents a man that doesn’t follow his own desires. Dorian is the easily influenced fallen man, who treads closer and closer to evil. Lord Henry is the tempter, the benefactor of sin—he expounds on desire and has MANY witticisms and advice to give, but if you read carefully, you see he doesn’t mean a lot of what he says. He is able to ride the middle ground: he can say all these things, perhaps even indulge in sin, but he is able to remain clean in the light. He’s all mouth. He’s like an evil scientists that experiments with people they way others would experiment with chemicals.
There are sooo many romantic quotes involving the threes feelings for each other, especially Basil’s worship of Dorian. They both refer to dorian as an Adonis, a perfect man.
“He is all my art to me now.”
“I can see him in the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and the subtleties of certain colours. That is all.”
“I find a strange pleasure in saying things to him that I know I shall be sorry for having said. I give myself away."
“When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious instinct of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.” - Basil, on when he met Dorian.
There are whole conversations around Basil’s adoration of Dorian that are cut out or watered down. As for Henry, the same can be said of his feelings for Dorian. Any reference to their assumed sexual relationship is neutered. There was a fear in Victorian society at the time of an Older more experienced man corrupting the younger generation. In this uncensored version, these moments of honest passion are some of the best lines in the entire book.
His publishers were scared to publish the novel as it was. They were already thinking of the legal ramifications, and so they began to make some changes without Wilde’s input.
It is a shame that he lived during a time where puritanical ideas were becoming popular again. That was one of the things that Wilde could not abide, the hypocrisy of Victorian society. He was appalled and excited by the idea that someone could appear one way, and yet be a totally different creature behind closed doors. He denied any suggestion of homosexual love and desire in the story, and especially as that might apply to himself. He was a married man with two children.
He was enamored by aestheticism and according to him that was the main point of the book, to display the tenets of art for arts sake, the beauty in beautiful things. He believed that art should speak for itself, and that art should not have anything of the artist in it. This was his argument when critics began to look at him as if he was Basil Hallward, and he had put too much of himself in the novel.
Whether or not he was in denial, or simply trying to avoid public scrutiny, I still am not certain. That is the thing about art—the artist cannot control what the consumer takes from it.
“Those who find ugly meaning in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there are hope.”
Oscar Wilde was many things, but as it pertains to this novel, he was brave. Wilde knew that submitting this novel for publication as it was opened himself up to danger. Maybe it was arrogance, but he did not fully realize the risk. He did not realize until later the danger of the cold metal of a locked cell, the danger of years stolen. Wilde wanted to show how hypocritical Victorian society was about morality, and in doing so he wrote some of himself into the story, as Basil Hallward says of the Portrait “I have put too much of myself into it.”
Perhaps, we are all hypocrites.
This is my second reading of the uncensored version, but this time I decided to read it along side the “official” version. I wanted to compare and contrast the two, decide which was better, and understand why certain revisions were necessary.
Spoiler: it’s complicated.
Publishers decided to cut entire scenes, sentences and phrases to water down the homosexual overtones. When I compare what was altered, I’m shocked by how much these revisions remove from the power of the novel. IF Wilde’s original choices were added back to the popularized version today, well, folks, we’d have the perfect novel on our hands.
Let me be clear: the fear of homosexuality around the time of publication was rising due to an amendment in 1885 to criminal law that made any “gross indecency” between men illegal. This meant that ANY act of perceived intimacy could send you to jail—a caress, a kiss on the cheek, a longing look.
In 1889 The Cleveland Street Scandal was popularized in the news. Celebrities and even royals were implicated in this scandal, and ultimately The Cleveland Street Scandal resulted in even more moral panic about sexuality and sin.
All of these negative feelings boiled over with Oscar Wildes libel trial against the Marquess of Queensberry in 1895. Wilde had been running around with Queensberry’s son, and Queensberry was determined to destroy Wilde. He left a calling card at one of the Clubs Wilde frequented calling him a sodomite, and Wilde used this as basis for a libel accusation. In doing so, Wilde hoped that Queensberry would leave him alone. Instead, Queensberry used this as an opportunity to launch an investigation into Wilde’s lifestyle, and turn the libel trial into a charge against Wilde for gross indecency.
London was hungry for blood. Unfortunately for Wilde, he was the one who fed them. He was convicted of gross indecency and served two years of hard labor in prison. Which, for the record, consisted of torturous activities like walking on essentially the equivalent of a stair master or treadmill for 6-10 HOURS at a time while isolated from others. This was outlawed in later years.
Wilde would later say of Queensberry & the trial:
“My whole life is ruined by this man.” He then proceeded to say “the tower of ivory is assailed by the foul thing. On the sand is my life split.”
For birthing The Picture of Dorian Gray into the world Wilde paid a high price—was it worth it? As a reader, I’d say so. The novel is important not just because of it’s historical importance, it contains so much knowledge, so many gorgeous pieces of prose. Wilde was a wordsmith. Nearly every page of my copy is underlined, starred, or highlighted in some way. Dorian Gray is a dog eared mess, and that is the sign of a perennial read. Something to come back to at different seasons in life, and always something to glean.
“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One could not escape from them, and yet what a subtle magic there was in them! They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute. Mere words! Was there anything so real as words!” (One of my favorite passages)
“Days in summer, Basil, are apt to linger.”
“The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry they dare not realize.”
“There is a luxury in self reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
“I know what conscience is, to begin with. It is not what you told me it was. It is the divinest thing in us.”
“The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.”
What this novel makes up for in rawness, it loses some in the notorious chapter nine (chapter 11 in the regular version.) It is so tedious and BORING. You could skip almost the entire chapter and not lose anything. It is designed to show just how annoying Dorian has grown, but goodness, I think Wilde could have achieved this with perhaps a paragraph or two, not pages and pages of description. I would be remiss to not mention this absolutely unnecessary creative decision. Like, we get it. Art for arts sake. Dorian is obsessed with beautiful things, he’s a glutton. Theres something to be said for letting the story breathe, but keep the plot rolling, don’t stifle it!
I’m going to focus on the themes that apply most to Wilde’s original intentions, before edits were made to disguise hints of homoeroticism and moral degradation of youth. For more on other themes, see my other review of the edition classrooms around the world know well. (coming soon!)
In this version masculinity is allowed to be soft. There are moments of gentle caress, sharing of vacation homes, longing looks, sharp double meanings. In the other version, any sign of effeminate sentiment is cut. Which is a shame, because the tangled relationship between the three men of this book are the pillars this story is built on.
Basil Hallward represents a man that doesn’t follow his own desires. Dorian is the easily influenced fallen man, who treads closer and closer to evil. Lord Henry is the tempter, the benefactor of sin—he expounds on desire and has MANY witticisms and advice to give, but if you read carefully, you see he doesn’t mean a lot of what he says. He is able to ride the middle ground: he can say all these things, perhaps even indulge in sin, but he is able to remain clean in the light. He’s all mouth. He’s like an evil scientists that experiments with people they way others would experiment with chemicals.
There are sooo many romantic quotes involving the threes feelings for each other, especially Basil’s worship of Dorian. They both refer to dorian as an Adonis, a perfect man.
“He is all my art to me now.”
“I can see him in the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and the subtleties of certain colours. That is all.”
“I find a strange pleasure in saying things to him that I know I shall be sorry for having said. I give myself away."
“When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious instinct of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.” - Basil, on when he met Dorian.
There are whole conversations around Basil’s adoration of Dorian that are cut out or watered down. As for Henry, the same can be said of his feelings for Dorian. Any reference to their assumed sexual relationship is neutered. There was a fear in Victorian society at the time of an Older more experienced man corrupting the younger generation. In this uncensored version, these moments of honest passion are some of the best lines in the entire book.
His publishers were scared to publish the novel as it was. They were already thinking of the legal ramifications, and so they began to make some changes without Wilde’s input.
It is a shame that he lived during a time where puritanical ideas were becoming popular again. That was one of the things that Wilde could not abide, the hypocrisy of Victorian society. He was appalled and excited by the idea that someone could appear one way, and yet be a totally different creature behind closed doors. He denied any suggestion of homosexual love and desire in the story, and especially as that might apply to himself. He was a married man with two children.
He was enamored by aestheticism and according to him that was the main point of the book, to display the tenets of art for arts sake, the beauty in beautiful things. He believed that art should speak for itself, and that art should not have anything of the artist in it. This was his argument when critics began to look at him as if he was Basil Hallward, and he had put too much of himself in the novel.
Whether or not he was in denial, or simply trying to avoid public scrutiny, I still am not certain. That is the thing about art—the artist cannot control what the consumer takes from it.
“Those who find ugly meaning in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there are hope.”
October 21, 2014
Naturally, The Picture of Dorian Gray is probably my favorite novel of all time- of course, when I say this, I am encompassing all versions of the story, censored or uncensored, edited or unedited. I was very excited to find a nice paperback copy of the uncensored Dorian, which I proceeded to buy and almost immediately read, this time self-annotating for comparison. Needless to say, my week was made by finding this gem waiting for me in some book store. Some of the differences from Wilde's original typescript are vastly different concerning plot and subtext, but all in all, it's still the novel I loved the first time I read the 1891 version.
Firstly, many people immediately become curious about increased homoeroticism in this version of the novel- I'm here to say that there is a lot more of that, both is Basil Hallward's character and Dorian Gray's lifestyle. Many passages that were made to talk about "creative inspiration" in the edited version originally talked about "tragic romance" in the original. In fact, Basil's character actually seemed completely different to me in this version because the poor man doesn't have to be censored in the original. But then again, I feel like homoeroticism is an element to be expected from Wilde. Needless to say, I actually feel like this element, although not seemingly important, changes a dynamic of the story in general- although some may not go for it, I absolutely do. It feels much more like Wilde to me than the other version.
A lot of passages talking about the self-indulgent French Decadence movement were censored for the conventional version of Dorian because audiences in general were disgusted by the idea of narcissism. Now that the passages are added back into the book, I kind of can see why the Victorians would not have liked the movement. Now, as the homoeroticism changes Basil's character, Decadence has a similar effect on Lord Henry. Much more of his influence on Dorian can be seen because every slimy word that he utters can be read. It's still delightfully despicable.
Lastly, the plot is actually not quite as long as in the 1891 version. This mainly is due to the fact that Wilde had to edit his novel to be more audience-friendly, so he had to find another way to convey the point of the story without going in a bad direction. Therefore, he added a subplot concerning James Vane and his quest to avenge his sister, Sybil. The original version of Dorian, however, does not have any of that story, instead choosing to focus on the same three characters the whole time. By having the plot delete some of these edited characters, there really is a completely different reason for Dorian's untimely (or timely?) death, which I would consider to be very major in changing the plot around. A smaller cast also provides for a lot more room for development. I felt a little more attached to Dorian's character when I read this because more time was devoted strictly to his bizarre life. Of course, I also could perceive better characterization of Lord Henry and Basil. While I do kind of miss having a more developed character of Sybil, I also definitely enjoy the reduced cast. This simply changes the experience and conflict that can be gleaned as a whole- I appreciate having a second way to look at the story.
What more can I say? It's The Picture of Dorian Gray either way you read it, so it's always going to be a fantastic work. A lot of the other reviews I have read about this version of the book suggest sticking to the 1891 version first instead of jumping right to Wilde's typescript, and I am going to agree with them on this. I don't think that this version should necessarily become the new standard of this novel, but it should be read after the more conventional, less provocative version is read. Reading both provide for an optimal situation. But personally, I think that the uncensored version is the one that I am probably going to turn to more for casual reading. After all, this is the version that Wilde intended for audiences to read! I believe that this 1890 version may be my preferred version of the novel.
Firstly, many people immediately become curious about increased homoeroticism in this version of the novel- I'm here to say that there is a lot more of that, both is Basil Hallward's character and Dorian Gray's lifestyle. Many passages that were made to talk about "creative inspiration" in the edited version originally talked about "tragic romance" in the original. In fact, Basil's character actually seemed completely different to me in this version because the poor man doesn't have to be censored in the original. But then again, I feel like homoeroticism is an element to be expected from Wilde. Needless to say, I actually feel like this element, although not seemingly important, changes a dynamic of the story in general- although some may not go for it, I absolutely do. It feels much more like Wilde to me than the other version.
A lot of passages talking about the self-indulgent French Decadence movement were censored for the conventional version of Dorian because audiences in general were disgusted by the idea of narcissism. Now that the passages are added back into the book, I kind of can see why the Victorians would not have liked the movement. Now, as the homoeroticism changes Basil's character, Decadence has a similar effect on Lord Henry. Much more of his influence on Dorian can be seen because every slimy word that he utters can be read. It's still delightfully despicable.
Lastly, the plot is actually not quite as long as in the 1891 version. This mainly is due to the fact that Wilde had to edit his novel to be more audience-friendly, so he had to find another way to convey the point of the story without going in a bad direction. Therefore, he added a subplot concerning James Vane and his quest to avenge his sister, Sybil. The original version of Dorian, however, does not have any of that story, instead choosing to focus on the same three characters the whole time. By having the plot delete some of these edited characters, there really is a completely different reason for Dorian's untimely (or timely?) death, which I would consider to be very major in changing the plot around. A smaller cast also provides for a lot more room for development. I felt a little more attached to Dorian's character when I read this because more time was devoted strictly to his bizarre life. Of course, I also could perceive better characterization of Lord Henry and Basil. While I do kind of miss having a more developed character of Sybil, I also definitely enjoy the reduced cast. This simply changes the experience and conflict that can be gleaned as a whole- I appreciate having a second way to look at the story.
What more can I say? It's The Picture of Dorian Gray either way you read it, so it's always going to be a fantastic work. A lot of the other reviews I have read about this version of the book suggest sticking to the 1891 version first instead of jumping right to Wilde's typescript, and I am going to agree with them on this. I don't think that this version should necessarily become the new standard of this novel, but it should be read after the more conventional, less provocative version is read. Reading both provide for an optimal situation. But personally, I think that the uncensored version is the one that I am probably going to turn to more for casual reading. After all, this is the version that Wilde intended for audiences to read! I believe that this 1890 version may be my preferred version of the novel.
December 25, 2017
Tirajedîya pîratî ew nîye ko meriv pîr buye, ev e ko meriv hîn ciwane...
Ev e yekemîn nakokî hebûnî me ye. Ser xatira wî meriv do Ava Jiyan jî çû ye. Yekane bersiva ko hatîye dîtin, xemgînî û teslîmbûn û qebûlkirina ew rastîtî ye ko nayê guhertin. lebê Ew ne tenê nakokîya jiyana me ye. Heke ev bela û pirsgirêk kesek dîn(Xwezayî) li ser me anî; meriv li ser xwe pirsgirêkek mezintir kirîye.
Hundira her mirovek mîna kehkeşanê ye: Bêdawîtî û Tevlihev. Belê em kehkişanên, lebê tenê perçeke biçûk ji wê em dijîn. Civakên kevneşopî bûne sedama veşartin beşeke mezin li hebûna me.
Oscar Wilde:" Kesayetiyê Dorîan Grey beşek zor li hebûna min nav xwe heye. Basîl Harward keseke ko ez difikirim ew ez im. Lord Henrî keseke ko Dinya difikire ew ez im. û Dorîan jî keseke ko ez hez dikim ew bim - belku di demeke din de bibe. "
Dema ku min vê pirtûkê dixwend, ez difikirîm ko di civaka Ewropa ya îro, Basil ji xwezî xwe şerm nake û rûyê Dorian di wêne de kirit nabe. kesek ji ber hestên xwe ne sûcdare û ne xwe û ne kesek dîn li beyn nabe.
Û ew ecêb e ku "Wêne ya Dorîan Grey" di heman çapkirinê yekê de sansor bû. Ber xatira hêviya homosexual Kesayetiyê nav pirtûkê. Lebê sansora pirtûkê û darizandina Oscar Wilde Ji bo çalakiyên homosexual nekarî bandorê vê pirtûkê li civakê kêm bike. Ji ber ku ne tenê romanek Ji dor homosexuality ye, belku basî girtîbûnî mirovên di civaka xwe jî dike; Ku divê bi zorê hewceyên bingehîn xwe veşire... Êş û derd ev e ku di nav gelek civaka me de, heta evîna kurik û keçek qedexekirî ne. Evîndarî azad nîye û Em li evînê dur êxistine...
"Wek wêne xemgîn,
Tenê rû û ne dilek..."
Ji lîstika Hamlet
Ev e yekemîn nakokî hebûnî me ye. Ser xatira wî meriv do Ava Jiyan jî çû ye. Yekane bersiva ko hatîye dîtin, xemgînî û teslîmbûn û qebûlkirina ew rastîtî ye ko nayê guhertin. lebê Ew ne tenê nakokîya jiyana me ye. Heke ev bela û pirsgirêk kesek dîn(Xwezayî) li ser me anî; meriv li ser xwe pirsgirêkek mezintir kirîye.
Hundira her mirovek mîna kehkeşanê ye: Bêdawîtî û Tevlihev. Belê em kehkişanên, lebê tenê perçeke biçûk ji wê em dijîn. Civakên kevneşopî bûne sedama veşartin beşeke mezin li hebûna me.
Oscar Wilde:" Kesayetiyê Dorîan Grey beşek zor li hebûna min nav xwe heye. Basîl Harward keseke ko ez difikirim ew ez im. Lord Henrî keseke ko Dinya difikire ew ez im. û Dorîan jî keseke ko ez hez dikim ew bim - belku di demeke din de bibe. "
Dema ku min vê pirtûkê dixwend, ez difikirîm ko di civaka Ewropa ya îro, Basil ji xwezî xwe şerm nake û rûyê Dorian di wêne de kirit nabe. kesek ji ber hestên xwe ne sûcdare û ne xwe û ne kesek dîn li beyn nabe.
Û ew ecêb e ku "Wêne ya Dorîan Grey" di heman çapkirinê yekê de sansor bû. Ber xatira hêviya homosexual Kesayetiyê nav pirtûkê. Lebê sansora pirtûkê û darizandina Oscar Wilde Ji bo çalakiyên homosexual nekarî bandorê vê pirtûkê li civakê kêm bike. Ji ber ku ne tenê romanek Ji dor homosexuality ye, belku basî girtîbûnî mirovên di civaka xwe jî dike; Ku divê bi zorê hewceyên bingehîn xwe veşire... Êş û derd ev e ku di nav gelek civaka me de, heta evîna kurik û keçek qedexekirî ne. Evîndarî azad nîye û Em li evînê dur êxistine...
"Wek wêne xemgîn,
Tenê rû û ne dilek..."
Ji lîstika Hamlet
February 23, 2022
Una obra maestra.
September 3, 2026
Entonces las personas homosexuales son así por naturaleza?
March 21, 2013
Het was een sublieme leeservaring om de ongecensureerde versie van Dorian Gray te lezen, niet zozeer om de ongecensureerde tekst, maar om de prachtige uitgave van het boek! De tekst vormt slechts de basis voor een uitgebreide studie van het maatschappelijk leven en de heersende moraal in de laat Victoriaanse tijd. De annotaties bij de tekst beslaan soms meer paginaruimte dan de tekst zelf. Dat leest wat langzaam, maar die annotaties zijn feitelijk nog interessanter dan de tekst zelf. Door middel van die informatie, foto's en illustraties kreeg ik echt voor het eerst een idee hoe het leven eruit zag én voelde in die periode. De meest wonderlijke zaken worden geduid. Ik vond het echt interessant te lezen welke boeken, op hun beurt, Oscar Wilde weer beïnvloed hebben. Het is niet verwonderlijk dat hij dweepte met bepaalde decadente Franse schrijvers. Hij baseerde zich ook voortdurend op de klassieken. De veel vrijere moraal in de klassieken was voor een man met zijn levensstijl uiteraard een veilig referentiekader, waaruit hij rijkelijk uit kon putten zonder zich meteen verdacht te maken. Oscar Wilde was meer decadent dan ik vermoedde, een super dandy, maar ook zeer erudiet en geestig. De tijd was niet rijp voor de overmoed die hij ten toon spreidde. Zijn extravagante optreden in het openbaar en de publicatie van Dorian Gray deden hem uiteindelijk de das om. Ik besef nu pas goed wat een schok dat boek teweeg moet hebben gebracht. Zelfs nu, in onze tijd, zouden we Dorian en Lord Henry behoorlijk immorele en egoïstische figuren vinden. Ik bewonder Oscar Wilde dat hij in de aanval ging tegen de tijdsgeest, maar het getuigde ook van een zelfoverschatting, die uiteindelijk zeer tragische gevolgen voor hem heeft gehad.
December 10, 2021
I am baffled, bumfuzzled, and bewildered. This original version of the novel did not become available to the public until 2011. When Oscar Wilde submitted it for publication in 1890, the editors were supposedly horrified at some of the content they thought would be offensive to readers. My twenty-first century brain cannot get down with that sentiment. They apparently thought there was "graphic homosexual content." I assure you, there is no such content in this uncensored version. Early in the story, Basil Hallward says something about how he had passionately loved Dorian, and had never loved a woman. I would call that a hint. It's certainly not graphic.
It has been nearly fourteen years since I read the censored version, and my memory of what I've read is notoriously bad even for more recent reads. So I can't say yet how the story itself differs between the two versions. I had completely forgotten how brutally dark this novel becomes as it nears its conclusion. I had also forgotten how beautifully descriptive the writing is, and how clever the dialogue. It probably deserves four stars, but there are quite a few vague references to events and people known to the characters that are never explained to the reader. That lack of clarity makes the story feel somehow incomplete and not wholly satisfying.
I listened to the audio book for this because it was the only version my library had in online resources. Edoardo Ballerini's performance is superb. I hope to clear up my confusion about the differences in the two versions by reading the annotated and illustrated copy in print from the library.
It has been nearly fourteen years since I read the censored version, and my memory of what I've read is notoriously bad even for more recent reads. So I can't say yet how the story itself differs between the two versions. I had completely forgotten how brutally dark this novel becomes as it nears its conclusion. I had also forgotten how beautifully descriptive the writing is, and how clever the dialogue. It probably deserves four stars, but there are quite a few vague references to events and people known to the characters that are never explained to the reader. That lack of clarity makes the story feel somehow incomplete and not wholly satisfying.
I listened to the audio book for this because it was the only version my library had in online resources. Edoardo Ballerini's performance is superb. I hope to clear up my confusion about the differences in the two versions by reading the annotated and illustrated copy in print from the library.
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