The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel by Oscar Wilde first published in 1890. In his preface to this, the only novel that he ever wrote, Wilde remarked "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all."

Publication history

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Picture of Dorian Gray

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Corresponding chapters in different editions

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1890 edition1891 edition

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

11

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

22

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-3

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

34

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-5

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

46

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

57

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

68

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

79

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

810

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

911

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1012

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1113

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1214

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-15

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-16

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-17

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-18

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1319/20

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the fall of 1889 J. M. Stoddart was in London to solicit short novels for one of his enterprises, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. To one dinner he invited Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde. They both agreed to write for him and Doyle submitted his second Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of Four.

Related Topics:
1889 - J. M. Stoddart - London - Lippincott's Monthly Magazine - Arthur Conan Doyle - Oscar Wilde - Sherlock Holmes - The Sign of Four

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was a delay in getting Wilde's work to press while numerous changes were made to the manuscripts of the novel (some of which survive to this day). Some of these changes were made at Wilde's instigation, and some at Stoddart's.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One especially notable change is the removal from the manuscripts of references to the fictitious book Le Secret de Raoul, and to its fictitious author, Catulle Sarrazin. The book and its author are still referred to in the published versions of the novel, but are unnamed.

Related Topics:
Reference - Fictitious - Author

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Picture of Dorian Gray was finally published on June 20 1890 in the July edition of Lippencott's.... It was an immediate sensation.

Related Topics:
Published - June 20 - 1890 - July

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A substantially revised and expanded edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published by Ward, Lock and Bowden in April 1891. For this edition, Wilde revised the content of the novel's existing chapters, divided the final chapter into two chapters, and created six entirely new additional chapters. Whereas the original edition of the novel contains 13 chapters, the revised edition of the novel contains 20 chapters. The table on the right shows how the chapters in the two different editions correspond to one another.

Related Topics:
April - 1891 - Chapters

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Between the publication of the original edition of the novel and the publication of the revised edition, Wilde published his "Preface" to the novel, in the 1 March 1891 edition of the literary/scientific journal the Fortnightly Review. This "Preface", which could be considered an aesthetic manifesto, consisted of 24 aphorisms - the first being 'The artist is the creator of beautiful things', and the last being 'All art is quite useless' - expounding some of the key tenets of aesthetic philosophy. Wilde added another aphorism - 'No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.' - to the "Preface", when it was included in the revised edition of the novel published in April 1891.

Related Topics:
1 March - 1891 - Literary - Scientific - Journal - Aesthetic - Manifesto - Aphorism - Philosophy - April

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One especially notable change made for the revised edition is that whereas events in the latter half of the novel were previously specified as taking place around Dorian Gray's 32nd birthday, on 7 November; they were now specified as taking place around Dorian Gray's 38th birthday, on 9 November. This has the effect of extending the period of time over which the story occurs.

Related Topics:
7 November - 9 November

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The revised edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray, incorporating the 25 aphorisms of the "Preface", has come to be considered the standard edition, and is widely held to be superior to its published predecessor. Nonetheless, it is instructive to compare the manuscripts and the two different editions of Wilde's novel. Critics have been especially interested in the purging of homoerotic themes and allusions during the course of the novel's development, so that while such themes and allusions abound in the final revised edition, they are less explicit than in previous versions of the novel - although no less effective for that.

Related Topics:
Critic - Homoerotic - Themes - Allusion

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These changes to the novel are not merely of academic interest, but were relevant to the three prosecutions involving Oscar Wilde that took place in the spring of 1895, resulting in his eventual arrest and imprisonment. John Sholto Douglas' defence attorney in the first prosecution, Edward Carson, attempted to use The Picture of Dorian Gray as evidence of Wilde's corrupting influence upon Alfred Douglas. Carson referred to the fact that Wilde had revised the novel, and cast aspersions upon his motivation for so doing.

Related Topics:
Academic - Prosecution - 1895 - Arrest - Imprisonment - John Sholto Douglas - Defence - Edward Carson - Evidence - Alfred Douglas - Motivation

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some latter-day editions of The Picture of Dorian Gray silently change the word 'Jew', which is used disparagingly in chapters 4 and 7 of the novel, to the word 'man', presumably an instance of political correctness.

Related Topics:
Jew - Man - Political correctness

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~