The Picture of Dorian Gray - Paperback

by Oscar Wilde (Author), Jeffrey Eugenides (Introduction by)

Oscar Wilde's classic, alluring novel of a man so obsessed with his appearance that he sacrifices his soul for eternal youth--with an introduction by Jeffrey Eugenides

Now a critically acclaimed Broadway play starring Sarah Snook!

Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read

Fascinated by his own beautiful portrait, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian pact to exchange his soul for perpetual youth and beauty. Guided by Lord Henry Wotton, he embarks on a life of corruption, satisfying his desires while still appearing as a respectable gentleman to society. Only Dorian's portrait shows the signs of his moral decline.

An insightful depiction of a hidden life and a critique of the darker facets of late Victorian society, The Picture of Dorian Gray provides a chilling portrayal of a man confronting the reality of his soul. Shocking in its implications of forbidden transgressions, this novel was later used as evidence against Oscar Wilde during his 1895 trial for indecency.

Front Jacket

Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, the tale of Dorian Gray's moral disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence, and a few years later the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde's homosexual liaisons, trials that resulted in his imprisonment. Of the book's value as autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, "Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages, perhaps."

Author Biography

Jeffrey Eugenides is the award-winning author of The Virgin Suicides; Middlesex, which won a Pulitzer Prize; and The Marriage Plot. Originally from Michigan, and educated at Brown University, he now lives in Berlin with his wife.