OSCAR WILDE. THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY . PENGUIN. 1982

PENGUIN CLASSICS

 248pp. 

ENGLISH

Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' was a succes de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895. This definitive edition includes a selection of contemporary reviews condemning the novel.