Rupert Graves Books

Wilde sees the world more clearly than any writer of fiction in the last century. It is for that reason that his work is so filled with countless paradoxes and contradictions that challenge the mind and titillate the senses. Wilde lived in an infinitely ironic age, when society had grown so influential as to crowd out the individuals that made it up. Today, we have taken for granted this incongruity and so our writers cannot express the kind of irony that Wilde mastered, despite the fact that we all know that something is amiss.

`The Picture of Dorian Gray' is filled with this irony. The plot shows us the ultimate irony of a man giving up his soul for the beauty of youth--the condition that is exalted in the modern age above all else, intellect, truth, justice, life itself. Interspersed are dialogues and epigrams that persist one hundred years later as some of the finest word handling ever recorded. Even a few samples should compel the potential reader:

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter."

"A man cannot be too careful in his choice for his enemies."

"The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little bit longer."

"Men marry because they are tired, women marry because they are curious. Both are disappointed."

"I love acting, it is so much more real than life."

- "I am on the side of the Trojans, they fought for a woman."
- "They were defeated."

The mastery of wit that Wilde displays must be seen in its context. He was a decadent as much as the characters he portrays are. Ultimately, the disillusion that the decadent faces comes through in the story and the reader is left with a very uneasy feeling upon completing `Dorian Gray.' Is life as absurd as it seems? Is there a solution? Or are we stuck with a life of paradox? Perhaps our current period of decadence will show us an alternative. Until it does, we can enjoy the astounding word play offered here.

There isn't much to say about Wilde's masterpiece that hasn't been said already. Filled with deliciously witty, catty wordplay and bon mots from a day where banter was highly valued, Wilde was skillfully adept at scrutinizing society and all of its flaws. The Picture of Dorian Gray is tragically ahead of its time, its philosophies on aestheticism and art are still relevant today - and will most likely always be. There were a few downsides (as I said, very few), including some dense chapters expelling the virtues, of well, non-virtue. Wilde would swiftly make up for these with delightful conversations taken straight out of the parlors of the age in which he lived. While some of them felt contrived, Dorian's slow decay into hedonism is wonderfully depicted, and the haunting last paragraph of the novel will stick with every reader. The theses the author conveys are spellbinding and dead-on, and the descriptions colored with imagery and allusions referencing Shakespeare and mythology are vivid. Wilde makes one question their own limits and passions, and engages the reader into being an active participant in life and reading.

I would give this 5 stars but its message has been repeated so frequently that it is hardly worth hearing again. In spite of that criticism the characters are interesting enough that it is definitely worth reading

This true classic works on many levels: Gothic horror, rapid-fire humor, cultural philosophy and history, and psychological insight into the author himself. Wilde, an openly practicing if not openly admitted, homosexual was as much a celebrity for his wit and lifestyle as he was an acknowledged artist in his own time.

But Dorian Gray, his masterpiece, shines early on with epigram after epigram that leaps off the page with instant recognition (oh, so it was Oscar Wilde who said that!). But then the story turns serious as it considers the deep subjects of perception and reality before twisting off the edge into pure horror.

Sure, the story is simple to the point of cliché today, but only because it was so well told by Wilde. The subject of a flattering portrait is granted his wish that he might stay the same while his portrait ages. The visual ravages of time on canvas are mere mirrors of the ravages of sin on the human soul that the youthful and beautiful exterior hide. The contrast and the guilt continually drive Dorian Gray to lower depths of human depravity.

While mild by slasher standards, the horror is real and shocking in true 19th century Gothic style. Woven throughout, and surprisingly unsubtly to 21th century eyes aware of homosexual lifestyle, language, and art, is the book's obvious homosexual theme. It is curious and truly unbelievable from our vantage point today that there was any question of Wilde's sexual orientation, and that he went to such lengths to attempt to defend himself from the accusation.

This is a beautiful and witty tale about a depraved man. His ugly soul is mirrored by his ever-changing portrait while he retains his youthful visage. Suspenseful throughout. A classic.