The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray

Resumen del libro

Over 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores material, including instances of graphic homosexual content, removed by the novel's first editor, who feared it would be offensive to Victorians.

More than 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores all of the material removed by the novel's first editor.

Upon receipt of the typescript, Wilde's editor panicked at what he saw. Contained within its pages was material he feared readers would find offensive especially instances of graphic homosexual content. He proceeded to go through the typescript with his pencil, cleaning it up until he made it acceptable to the most fastidious taste. Wilde did not see these changes until his novel appeared in print. Wilde's editor's concern was well placed. Even in its redacted form, the novel caused public outcry. The British press condemned it as vulgar, unclean, poisonous, discreditable, and a sham. When Wilde later enlarged the novel for publication in book form, he responded to his critics by further toning down its immoral elements.

Wilde famously said that The Picture of 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 repressive Victorian era. By implication, Wilde would have preferred we read today the uncensored version of his novel.

Nicholas Frankel is Associate Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Biografía del autor

p Novelista, poeta y dramaturgo, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) nació en Dublín y se formó en el ambiente universitario británico. Viajó mucho y se instaló en París, donde conoció a autores como Zola, Gide o Mallarmé. Fue un hombre excéntrico que se vio sometido a juicio, encarcelado y condenado a trabajos forzados por su homosexualidad. El decadentismo y el esteticismo, pero también su peripecia vital influyeron fuertemente en su creación literaria. i El fantasma de Canterville /i (1888), i La importancia de llamarse Ernesto /i (1895), i De Profundis /i (1905) y, cómo no, i El retrato de Dorian Gray /i (1890), fueron sus mejores obras.<br>