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Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0393955680
ISBN-13: 9780393955682
Jan 1988
Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books
462 pages
Norton Critical Edition Series
Language: English |
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Synopsis
An exquisitely beautiful young man in Victorian England retains his youthful and innocent appearance over the years while his portrait reflects both his age and evil soul as he pursues a life of decadence and corruption. Illustrated sidebar notes provide historical background to the text., Oscar Wilde's classic work is about a man who sells his soul for eternal youth: only his portrait ages, while he remains forever handsome and young. Wilde's allegory, first published in 1890, provides an interesting take on the Faust myth and also a probing examination of human values. Wilde himself described it as the story of "an idea that is old in the history of literature, but to which I have given new form." He was shocked and angered by the response to it by the English press, which considered the novel decadent, corrupting, and--worst of all--French-influenced.
| Details | | Series: | Norton Critical Edition Series |
| Size | | Length: | 462 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 16.0 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn."
Industry Reviews
"He is not one of those writers who as the centuries change lose their relevance. Wilde is one of us. His wit is an agent of renewal as pertinent now as a hundred years ago."
Richard Ellmann
"It is poisonous if you like; but you cannot deny that it is also perfect, and perfection is what we artists aim at."
Biography - Oscar Wilde
"...[a] tale spawned from the leprous literature of the French decadents--a poisonous book, the atmosphere of which is heavy with the mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction."
Hardyment
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