The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition
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The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition

The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition

By
Oscar Wilde (Author) Nicholas Frankel (Contributor)  

Hardback

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The Picture of Dorian Gray altered the way Victorians understood the world they inhabited. It heralded the end of a repressive Victorianism, and after its publication, literature had-in the words of biographer Richard Ellmann-"a different look." Yet the Dorian Gray that Victorians never knew was even more daring than the novel the British press condemned as "vulgar," "unclean," "poisonous," "discreditable," and "a sham." Now, more than 120 years after Wilde handed it over to his publisher, J. B. Lippincott & Company, Wilde's uncensored typescript is published for the first time, in an annotated, extensively illustrated edition. The novel's first editor, J. M. Stoddart, excised material-especially homosexual content-he thought would offend his readers' sensibilities. When Wilde enlarged the novel for the 1891 edition, he responded to his critics by further toning down its "immoral" elements. The differences between the text Wilde submitted to Lippincott and published versions of the novel have until now been evident to only the handful of scholars who have examined Wilde's typescript. Wilde famously said that 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, which saw Wilde sentenced to two years' hard labor for gross indecency. The appearance of Wilde's uncensored text is cause for celebration. 78 color illustrations, 1 color map CPSIA choking or other US hazard warning - No California Proposition 65 hazard warning necessary
Nicholas Frankel has published many books about Oscar Wilde, including Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years, The Short Stories of Oscar Wilde, The Annotated Prison Writings of Oscar Wilde, The Invention of Oscar Wilde, and The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition. He is Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University.
  • Contributor: Oscar Wilde
  • Imprint: The Belknap Press
  • ISBN13: 9780674057920
  • Number of Pages: 304
  • Packaged Dimensions: 229x241mm
  • Packaged Weight: 1016
  • Format: Hardback
  • Publisher: Harvard University Press
  • Release Date: 2011-05-11
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Biography: Nicholas Frankel has published many books about Oscar Wilde, including Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years, The Short Stories of Oscar Wilde, The Annotated Prison Writings of Oscar Wilde, The Invention of Oscar Wilde, and The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition. He is Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University.

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