A Review of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Dorian Gray is the archetype of beauty, physical magnificence unlikely to be seen once in a century, the envy of even the most prominent young men of London’s upper class. But after a mysterious portrait shows him the astonishing extent of his perfection, his life begins to change, and he is plunged into a strange, sybaritic New Hedonism at the urging of his dear friend Lord Henry.

Oscar Wilde once wrote that “there is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written,” and he puts his epigram to the most stringent of tests in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Pick up this classic, and follow at your own risk Wilde’s ingeniously wrought story of lust, love, lavish wealth, impetuous caprice, and, ultimately, of the human soul.

A new film adaptation of the novel was released in 2009 (under the title Dorian Gray) starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth. I personally did not find the movie that amazing.