The Picture of Dorian Gray - An Annotated, Uncensored Edition (Hardcover, Annotated, uncensored ed)

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" altered the way Victorians understood the world they inhabited. It heralded the end of a repressive Victorianism, and after its publication, literature had in the words of biographer Richard Ellmann a different look. Yet the "Dorian Gray" that Victorians never knew was even more daring than the novel the British press condemned as vulgar, unclean, poisonous, discreditable, and a sham. Now, more than 120 years after Wilde handed it over to his publisher, J. B. Lippincott & Company, Wilde s uncensored typescript is published for the first time, in an annotated, extensively illustrated edition.

The novel s first editor, J. M. Stoddart, excised material especially homosexual content he thought would offend his readers sensibilities. When Wilde enlarged the novel for the 1891 edition, he responded to his critics by further toning down its immoral elements. The differences between the text Wilde submitted to Lippincott and published versions of the novel have until now been evident to only the handful of scholars who have examined Wilde's typescript.

Wilde famously said that Dorian Gray contains much of me: Basil Hallward is what I think I am, Lord Henry what the world thinks me, and Dorian what I would like to be in other ages, perhaps. Wilde s comment suggests a backward glance to a Greek or Dorian Age, but also a forward-looking view to a more permissive time than his own, which saw Wilde sentenced to two years hard labor for gross indecency. The appearance of Wilde s uncensored text is cause for celebration.

General

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!