The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Written by Oscar Wilde
- Published in Classics
- 1 comment
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, was first published as a serial story in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. As submitted by Wilde to the magazine, the editors feared the story was indecent, and deleted five hundred words before publication — without Wilde’s knowledge. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press.
Wilde revised and expanded the magazine edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) for publication as a novel; the book edition (1891) featured an aphoristic preface — an apologia about the art of the novel and the reader. The content, style, and presentation of the preface made it famous in its own literary right, as social and cultural criticism. In April 1891, the editorial house Ward, Lock and Company published the revised version of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
This Version features the complete twenty chapters, along with preface by Wilde.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, his plays, and the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death. In the latter half of the 20th century he became a gay icon.
1 comment
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Stefano Friday, 17 July 2015 07:21 Comment LinkI don't have the book at hand, so I can't check how many chapters it has (I bvlieee, though, it was the longer version). This is interesting information, as I indeed thought the book was a bit too long.
