The picture of Dorian Gray

Wilde, Oscar 1854-1900 (Author). Mighall, Robert. (Added Author).

Summary: A young man's quest for eternal youth and beauty ends in scandal, depravity and death. Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. The picture of Dorian Gray was a succes de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at his trial at the Old Bailey in 1895. This definitive edition includes a selection of contemporary reviews condemning the novel's immorality, and the introduction to the first Penguin Classics edition by Peter Ackroyd.

Record details

ISBN: 9780141439570 (pbk.) :
ISBN: 0141439572 (pbk.)
Physical Description: print
xliii, 252 p. ; 20 cm.
Publisher: London ; New York : Penguin, 2003.

Content descriptions

General Note:	"Penguin classics."
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (p. xxxviii-xlii).
Formatted Contents Note:	Picture of Dorian Gray -- Selected contemporary reviews of The Picture of Dorian Gray -- Introduction to The First Penguin Classics Edition, by Peter Ackroyd.