I'm a big fan of Victorian Era literature so I knew I was going to like this one. This is Oscar Wilde's only novel and it's really apparent that his main focus in life was poetry; the language in this book is very "frilly" so to speak. This version of the book is the 1891 version, or the censored/edited version, but it has notes about what was deleted and added from the 1890 version, which gave a fuller look into the story and its history. It also contains reactions to the story and analyses as well as a short summary of Oscar Wilde's life.
I really liked how this book addressed the concept and power that comes with beauty. In older literature, especially older European literature, personality and appearance always went hand in hand; if someone was beautiful and young they were righteous and good, if they were old and ugly, they meant you harm. In this book Dorian Gray is the complete opposite, or is it?
In this story, Dorian Gray prays to always be young and beautiful, his aging and the physical representation of his sins are cast onto this life-size, hyper realistic portrait his friend (and possible lover at the time), Basil Hallward, paints of him. Dorian keeps the picture locked away in an unused room on the top floor of his mansion that only he has the key to. Over the years, the picture taunts him, it becomes his conscience: ever changing and growing grotesque while Dorian stays the same beautiful, 17 year old boy as he was in the beginning despite becoming morally bankrupt.
This book compares him to Narcissus a lot, which I get, but I don't think he's any more self absorbed than anyone else in his position would be. He comes from old money and lives in this giant mansion alone. He's surrounded by people who constantly give him the benefit of the doubt, who support his thoughts and decisions no matter what they are, and who compliment him nonstop. Anyone in that position would get a big ego, he's really just a product of his environment.
This book reminded me of Faust, making a deal with the devil for power but only finding out the consequences when it's too late. I also really enjoyed the concept of "a poisonous book." Which is a term for a book that changes the way you look at things, the way you act and think. For Dorian and Henry, this book is À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans, or the "yellow book." This book speaks to Dorian's self absorbed-ness, he likes it because the main character reminds him of himself. But, from what I know, this book is also very poetic in the way in combines art and science. -I might have to read it myself, it sounds interesting. It did make me think about what my poisonous book might be. Jane Eyre maybe? That's the first feminist novel I read, and I read it at a very formative age. Maybe House of Leaves? I do tend to think about that often. It also could be a video game. I think about TLOU and TLOU 2 quite a bit. In the notes of Dorian Gray, it says that Oscar Wilde put this idea of a "poisonous book" in his book because that's what the reviews kept saying about Dorian Gray after the initial 1890 release.
Moving on though, the gayness in this book is very implied. It's not something you necessarily have to search for, it seems very upfront for the time it was written. Oscar Wilde was (probably) a gay man himself, or at least bisexual with a heavy preference towards men. Gay relationships were what he knew best to depict, it seems like every man in this book has a preference toward men.
I have to say though, that leads me to the thing about this book that I wasn't a big fan of: the misogyny. Although it wasn't too bad, there's still this weird narrative in this book that women are "too emotional" or "don't think very hard about things." I think it's possible this could've just been a literary tool to imply "the company of men is better for a man," but still, that seems very shallow for a poet. Another minor thing you may have noticed in my picture, the design on the cover had some white paint on it that kept getting stuck to my hands as I held the book open. After setting the book down I'd have to go wash my hands because I would be covered in little white flakes. Overall though, I did enjoy this book.
That's all, thank you for reading!
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