Picture of Dorian Gray (Version 3)
Picture of Dorian Gray (Version 3)
Wilde crafted this novel as a devil's bargain with his readers: a gorgeous, poisonous meditation on beauty and its price. The setup is simple but devastating. When Dorian Gray wishes to remain forever young while his portrait ages and bears the marks of his sins, he gets exactly what he asked for. What follows is a descent into hedonism and cruelty that scandalized Victorian England and still feels transgressive today. The portrait becomes an increasingly grotesque mirror, revealing what Dorian's flawless face conceals. Wilde's prose is so precisely wicked, so perfectly turned, that the reader almost roots for Dorian until they realize what they've been seduced into admiring. This is a novel about the horror of living without consequence, and the slow death of a soul that follows.
X-Ray
