The English collection
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The novel
In a London artist's studio, a portrait brings Dorian Gray's beauty into focus. Oscar Wilde's only novel draws its young subject into a world of dazzling conversation, desire and unsettling questions about the relation between appearances and a life.
A way into the book
From the introduction
A painter's studio opens onto a scented summer garden. Inside, Basil Hallward has made a portrait he hesitates to exhibit, while his friend Lord Henry Wotton turns conversation into a succession of brilliant provocations. Their subject is Dorian Gray, a young man whose beauty seems to promise an exceptional life. The opening of The Picture of Dorian Gray asks who controls that promise: the person admired, the artist who represents him, or the spectator who supplies an interpretation. It is a novel of London drawing rooms and private fears, where a compliment can become an instruction and looking at someone can become a form of possession.
An excerpt from the original Read Classics introduction. The Android preview contains the complete introduction and Chapter I.
Inside the illustrated edition
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
Beauty before the mirror
Flowers, summer light and the quiet of a studio. Seven atmospheric paintings enter Wilde’s world of beauty and uncertainty.
the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
A hopeful afternoon
Two figures walk together but look in different directions. London glows with the fragile promise of youth.
the flickering, wind-blown sunlight
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
The enchantment of the stage
Pale fabric and warm footlights emerge from velvet shadow. A painted moment between presence and performance.
like the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
A room kept apart
A key, a closed door, a narrow landing. Ordinary spaces take on the colour of secrecy.
Dorian locked the door and put the key in his pocket.
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
What remains unseen
Purple cloth gathers in the candlelight. The painting leaves its greatest question behind a curtain.
a curtained picture
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
Towards the edge of the city
Violet mist and a solitary doorway. A nocturne of unease, distance and elusive light.
a small shabby house
The art of the story · The Picture of Dorian Gray
A single light
One window shines above an almost silent square. The final painting holds its story at a distance.
Except for a light in one of the top windows, the house was all dark.
In development
The Android preview
Introduction + Chapter I · No account needed.
The Android app lets you try the typography and read the preview offline. It is not yet available for public download.
For now, you can read the introduction excerpt above. This website does not yet offer the reading sample or an interactive reader.
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