THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY- BOOK SUGGESTION

CLASSIC COMEBACK

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY BY OSCAR WILDE

 GENRE: PHILOSOPHICAL FICTION

"words! mere words! how terrible they were! how clear and vivid, and cruel! one could not escape from them. and yet what a subtle magic there was in them! they seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of violor of lute! mere words! was there anything so real as words?

-- oscar wilde, the picture of dorian grey 

the book was published  in the year 1980 in the issue of lippincott's monthly magazine, but as the editor thought the novel was indecent, he roughly deleted five hundred words without oscars knowledge. later, wilde defended his work that it has it own moral in a terrible way.it is said to violate law regarding public moralty. there were many critics who criticised and even praised his work. later the revised version was released in the year 1891. the literary and the artistic manifesto made the book famous in its own right. the novel has a strong sence of themes and characters and is an example of gothic fiction.

the story is about a young man who sells his soul for eternal beauty. dorian grey, the main character of the novel gets influenced by his friend lord henry that ' beauty is only aspect of life pursuing' . basil hallward painted a portrait of dorian grey which can be considered as his masterpiece.he pledges his soul only if that painting could bear the burden of age and make him look young until his death.
then he fall in love with an actress sibyl vane due to her acting skills and proposes her to marriage but due to her real experience of love she fails to pour her heart for the act of romeo and juliet in the presence of dorian grey. due to her poor acting he rejects her cruelly. after this incident, her notices the changes in his portrait and realises that his wish of immortal age did come true and stay young while the picture becomes hideous and wicked. will dorian be able to with stand his inevitable fate ?
will he be able to bear the burden of eternal beauty?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

OSCAR WILDE

oscar wilde (16 october 1854- 30 november 1900) was an irish play-writer, poet and novelist. he became one of the popular play-writers in london. he was imprisoned for his love towards alfred douglas but douglas father did not approve it as they were both men. by that time oscar was married so he was imprisoned for two years due to gross indecency of men. he wrote his final book ' the ballad of reading gaol' after his imprisonment which says about the prison life. he died in paris at the age of 46.
his works include:
      1.the importance of being earnest (1895)
      2. salome (1893)
      3,an ideal husband (1895)
even though he wrote a huge number of plays the picture of dorian grey is his only novel