Oscar Wilde

Nicholas Frankel

Over 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores material, including instances of graphic homosexual content, removed by the novel’s first editor, who feared it would be “offensive” to Victorians.

The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray

More than 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian Gray for publication in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, the uncensored version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback edition. This volume restores all of the material removed by the novel’s first editor.

The uncensored picture of Dorian Gray

L. J.

Might there not be some curious scientific reason for it all? If thought could exercise its influence upon a living organism, might not thought exercise an influence upon dead and inorganic things? Nay, without thought or conscious desire, might not things external to ourselves vibrate in unison with our moods and living passions, atom calling to atom, in secret love or strange affinity?

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.

The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with those virtues that are likely to benefit ourselves. We praise the Banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets. 

The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists. Good artists give everything to their art, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in themselves. A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets make a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write poetry that they dare not realize. 

"He gives you good advice, I suppose. People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves."

His nature had developed like a flower, had borne blossoms of scarlet flame. Out of its secret hiding-place had crept his Soul, and Desire had come to meet it on the way.

I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ahses into pain. My God! Harry, how I worship her!

Young men want to be faithful and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot: that is all one can say.

"Always! That is a dreadful word. It makes me shudder when I hear it. Women are so fond of using it. They spoil every romance by trying to make it last for ever. It is a meaningless word, too. the only difference between a caprice, and a life-long passion, is that caprice lasts a little longer."

You have a wonderful face, Mr. Gray. Don't frown. You have. And Beauty is a form of Genius, is higher indeed than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its Divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it. You smile? Ah! when you have lost it you won't smile. 

People say sometimes that Beauty is only superficial. That may be so. But at least it is not so superficial as Thought. To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. 

There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion,—these are the two things that govern us.

He has stood as Paris in dainty armour, and as Adonis with huntsman's cloak and polished boar- spear. Crowned with heavy lotus- blossoms, he has sat on the prow of Adrian's barge, looking into the green, turbid Nile. He has leaned over the still pool of some Greek woodland, and seen in the waters' silent silver the wonder of his own beauty.

When I like people immensely I never tell their names to any one. It seems like surrendering a part of them. You know how I love secrecy. It is the only thing that can make modern life Wonderful or mysterious to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I dare say, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into one’s life.

The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit quietly and gape at the play. If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat.

Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you well, of course you have an intellectual expression, and all that. But Beauty, real Beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself an exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! 

Aestheticism's first martyr at the hands of life was not Dorian Gray. It was Oscar Wilde himself.

bella <3

and, certainly, to him life itself was the first, the greatest, of the arts, and for it all the other arts seemed to be but a preparation. 

ordinary people waited til life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away. sometimes this was the effect of Art, and chiefly literature, which dealt immediately with the passions and the intellect. 

i want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. i want a breath of our pain to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain. my God! Harry, how i worship her. 

the life that would make his soul would mar his body. 

i find a strange pleasure in saying things to him i know i shall be sorry for having said. i give myself away … then i feel, Harry, that i have given away my whole soul to someone who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat, a bit of decoration to charm his vanity, an ornament for a summer’s day.

one of my most beloved books ever, I love every sentence, every letter here. I am home. Poor Basil makes me cry every time.

ラップの神 del ray🗡🐸

Daniel U

« there is a luxury in self reproach. when we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. it is the confession not the priest that gives us absolution. »

this reminded me of why dorian gray has been one of my favourite books since i was a teenager. oscar wilde has a wonderful way with words that just made me fly through this book, and it wasn't because i already knew the story by heart but because his prose is some of the best i have read in my life.

i will say that i am very grateful that i got to read this copy because ugh! i love beautiful words and beautiful confessions!! basil hayward, you have never done anything wrong in your life, ever. 

my biggest question in life is: will we ever have a good and accurate dorian gray adaptation or is hollywood too cowardly? (the answer is yes)

but all jokes aside, i started this this morning and only got through the introductions so i could start the actual story on the train and just... absolutely flew through it and was finished by the time i got home. yeah, this hasn't lost its spot in my favourites.

florine

« there is a luxury in self reproach. when we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. it is the confession not the priest that gives us absolution. »

this reminded me of why dorian gray has been one of my favourite books since i was a teenager. oscar wilde has a wonderful way with words that just made me fly through this book, and it wasn't because i already knew the story by heart but because his prose is some of the best i have read in my life.

i will say that i am very grateful that i got to read this copy because ugh! i love beautiful words and beautiful confessions!! basil hayward, you have never done anything wrong in your life, ever. 

my biggest question in life is: will we ever have a good and accurate dorian gray adaptation or is hollywood too cowardly? (the answer is yes)

but all jokes aside, i started this this morning and only got through the introductions so i could start the actual story on the train and just... absolutely flew through it and was finished by the time i got home. yeah, this hasn't lost its spot in my favourites.

I wanted to try and read more classics this year and figured I’d start with this one because so many people I know love it, and I value their opinions. So this was … ok. I was mostly intrigued by the fantastical element of it, but that’s about it. The long winded monologues by annoying men threw me off. I simply cannot believe that this  blonde haired, blue eyed man was the apple of everyone’s eye — especially when paired with who is on the cover. Like let’s be serious for a second. Everything about the characters seemed too theatrical and overdone in a way that made it hard for me to connect with anyone. I understand the “point” of the novel; it was a very long winded fable like when we were kids, but it was kind of just ‘eh’ for me. Also, why was Ch 11 even there? Also AGAIN — I was under the impression that this story was a lot gayer than it was, so my expectations just simply were not met. But like I said before, the thing saving it and making it a 3 star instead of 2 is the magical element.

Nik ✨

Oscar Wilde is a reminder of the unchanging nature of man. That even as we face ourselves in the mirror we refuse to see the shameful arrogant grim hidden beneath.

As decades go by the book accomplishes its purpose by being forgotten. Locked somewhere like our most ambitious dreams, needed to be forgotten to keep insanity at bay.

Ray Remnant

Oscar Wilde is a reminder of the unchanging nature of man. That even as we face ourselves in the mirror we refuse to see the shameful arrogant grim hidden beneath.

As decades go by the book accomplishes its purpose by being forgotten. Locked somewhere like our most ambitious dreams, needed to be forgotten to keep insanity at bay.

Jaden Nelson

Review on April 2020 reread—So it turns out that I was wrong about remembering there being a character her who wanders into a crack den in this book? Also I forgot how sudden the ending is. I made many notes and highlights in my kindle copy this time, and most of them further enforce how much I love lord Henry’s character. He is the most horrible influence and everything he says is very profound but in the most insulting way, and I it’s incredibly entertaining to read. I wanted more of the “rich life” in this book with servants running around and your staff cooking you a meal for your dinner party and such. I think I liked the book more this time around, so I will maybe bump it up to 4 stars. Definitely not a 5 star read, but it’s one of the better classics I’ve read—both morally and intellectually valuable while also being entertaining and timeless. That’s all—hopefully I remember to share my kindle highlights. Oh yeah, I read the uncensored/unedited version because it was supposedly so much more true to Wilde as an artist but it was like almost exactly the same except for the wording of a few things.

While the censored version is already a masterpiece, this uncensored version including the love confession of Basil surpassed it. Beautiful with a lot of relatable quotes even 132 years later. My favorite classic of all time, recommending it to everyone who wants to get into classics (apart from that chapter where he explains gray's obsession, that one was just hard to push through) 

ally

The superior version. Such a great read when it’s in its intended condition and not doctored within an inch of its life 

Jacque

i don’t know if this is particular to the uncensored version or not, but there were so many things in this book i simply didn’t care about and was forced to read through because what if it was important, right? i’m the kind of person who doesn’t like skim-reading or skipping chunks of paragraphs; i love giving a book my full, undivided attention because i’m a believer that the essence of a book, a story, can be found in its every nook and cranny. but, while that was the case for some of the admittedly long and seemingly never-ending dialogues in this book, it also didn’t apply to everything, as is to be expected. this makes me think of how truly important an editor’s job can be. i’m sure i would’ve thoroughly enjoyed the book hadn’t it been for the unnecessary bits i struggled so much to get through. the story is compelling, some the dialogue incredible and thought-provoking in the best way possible; even now, a week after i finished it, some quotes still remain engraved deep in my brain, most of them coming from the unlikeable, devil-like lord henry. it’s a good story about temptation and sin and the heaviness of our burdens in our souls even if we can’t physically see them. in dorian’s case, he has the representation of his picture. it also says a lot about human nature, a critique in my opinion: how, if given the freedom to do what we want without consequences, we won’t hesitate to become twisted and tainted with blood. in a way, with its characters, the uncensored picture of dorian gray sets up a story of contradictions, a paradox of sorts: lord henry being represented by sin and apparent freedom and uncanniness, basil being represented by his good nature and big heart and his desire to help even after the cause has clearly been lost; and dorian, an in-between factor with the ability to get influenced by any of the two. unsurprisingly, because evil and sin and darkness has a certain allure to it, seems fun and freeing, that’s what he choses. he disregards basil, becomes closer to lord henry, and digs his own grave. the ending is spectacular, probably my favorite part of the whole book. i wouldn’t call it an open ending but rather one up to interpretation. no, in my head, it’s not the same. because the reader, going from there, is driven to finish the tale with their own words and ideas. and i finished mine. overall, this book wasn’t a bad read. simply a little too full and unedited which, really, i should’ve expected by the uncensored in the title. this is a previous manuscript from the one eventually published. i might, someday, read the original version and see if i like it better or worse.

lena

Deyana

Flowery and lovely prose, aesthetic and decadent images--what more could I ask for? Call it narcissism, call it naivety, but I adore this tragically beautiful novel.

this is the only version of dorian grey i've ever read and i'm glad

Joyce

Mael

took me a while to finish it bc i was caught up with work but amazinggg ! literally devoured the 30 last pages at the beach, beautiful beautiful book.

Madeleine 

Anna with an A

This is one of my favorite books ever /first book I read in English so it will always have a spetial place in my heart. That was a yearly reread, but I read uncensored version for the first time. Totally worth it! 

Floofyflower

I read the edited version last year and honestly did not like it. I understood the significance of the classic novel, but that version seemed choppy and disconnected. 

This version, however, makes much more sense. I feel like the story and the characters connected more and the plot wasn’t disjointed. The prose is beautiful. I liked this version more, but the long-winded paragraphs tended to make me zone out. I’m the kind of reader that needs paragraph breaks, and this book didn’t have many of those. Overall this version is superior, so if you are interested in the story be sure to pick up this edition. 

The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray

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