num_pages: 279
description: In Oscar Wilde’s famous novel, Dorian Gray is tempted by Henry Wotton to sell his soul in order to hold on to beauty and youth. Dorian succumbs and murders the portrait painter Basil Haliward, who stands between him and his goal. Though in the end vice is punished and virtue rewarded, the novel remains one of the most important expressions of fin de siècle decadence. It is in the preface to the expanded edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray that Wilde coined the most famous expression of his “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well-written or badly-written. That is all.” Like other Broadview Editions, this edition includes a wide range of materials from the period that help to set the text in context. In particular, the editor locates the text both in relation to elements in the mainstream culture of the day (such as the aesthetes); and in relation to the gay subculture.
language: English
title: The Picture of Dorian Gray
titlecomplete: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Broadview Literary Texts)
characters: Lord Henry Wotton, Lady Victoria Wotton, James Vane, Lord Staveley, Alan Campbell, Dorian Gray, Adrian Singleton, Lady Narborough, Lady Gwendolen, Duchess of Monmouth, Henry Ashton, Basil Hallward, Sibyl Vane
genres: Fiction, Gothic, LGBT, Horror, Literature, Classics, Novels, 19th Century, Fantasy, Audiobook
ratings_count: 1438167
places: England, London, England
publisher: Broadview Press