A book. That is all it takes for Dorian Gray to turn from a demure and vulnerable young man ‘unspotted from the world’, into a man indulging in self-corruption and delighting in the life of sin and temptation, and yet growing confident and outspoken.
As Dorian delves deeper into the heinous exploits of the nineteenth-century Frenchman, he garners new experiences without regard for morality or the consequences of his actions.
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wilde, a man whose life was riddled with scandals and rumours, authored his first and only novel before any of his major plays. Hence, it can be very obvious in the first few chapters that the novel was written by a playwright, especially where the events can easily be imagined taking place on a stage. The blunt and unsubtle dialogues can take up entire pages but as the plot progresses and takes shape, it gets more and more enthralling with each subsequent page.
A rare piece of fiction that heavily mirrors elements from Wilde’s own life, expressing some of his own ‘sins’. The plot of the book can seem like a straightforward disturbing horror tale of a man selling his soul, but it is the complexities, contrasts and character developments that add a certain charm to it.
Wilde not only explores the superficiality of the world, especially the elite societies with their idée fixe of youth and beauty but also how we often misjudge the appearance as reality.
the book ranges from appalling to amusing to nail-bitingly interesting to (☉_☉)
but the writing and the quotes are impeccable and can leave you thinking for days