I love it, it is one of my favourite books! In fact, it was the first book I read in English (I speak German).
It is really a classical masterpiece!

I love this book and a lot of Wilde's works. His short stories are fun too. His "The Remarkable Rocket" has a great lesson about how far being a good friend goes, that lines up well as a mirror to Dorian.




















I feel like the story is about the denial of responsibility. Dorian always believed he would be young and free of faults - which the portait correctly reflected that he indeed was not. Instead of owning up to the faults, Dorian hid them away and became the monster he is.




















I think a lot of people can learn from it. Everyone wants to think they are a good person, so they justify their actions in their mind to make crappy decisions okay. But then it's a slippery slope until they're not a good person at all anymore. Even if you're still a physically beautiful person on the outside, it doesn't make up for your ugly personality on the inside.




















I really like it since Wilde was so into aestheticism, that values beauty so much. I think it helps create boundaries for those who are superficial/skin-deep about it. Idk where I am going with this, I just love Wilde's works. Glad you liked the book! :)

I also recently read it. I thought that if I was a couple of years younger and more impressionable I might have been wowed by Lord Henry's speeches but instead most of the time he sounded edgy and full of bs.


There's a chapter-by-chapter discussion on Reddit on the book and most people there thought Dorian had no remorse whatsoever but I think he felt bad at times. He was just too preoccupied with his own feelings and pain to feel too bad for anyone else.


This was the first thing I read by Wilde so along reading I looked up stuff about his life and I ended up thinking about him more than I did about the book. Learning about his late-life made me sad. He sues a boyfriend's father for defamation but ends up getting imprisoned for homosexuality. My edition had a short biography and one part of it made me so sad: "After Wilde was released from prison he lived in Paris, France. He attempted to write a play in his style before his imprisonment, but this effort failed." Also from Wikipedia: "I can write, but have lost the joy of writing".

Wilde wrote in an 1894 letter:

>[*The Picture of Dorian Gray*] contains much of me in it — Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry, what the world thinks me; Dorian is what I would like to be — in other ages, perhaps.

In the original version Hallward was more obviously homosexual, although his desire for Gray was never consummated. This caused a scandal when the story was first published, which caused Wilde to revise the story, downplaying the homoeroticism and emphasizing the moral lesson and the awful fate of Gray. That’s now the standard version, which makes it hard to understand why the original caused a scandal.

Lord Henry’s cynicism was also scandalous, because he encourages Gray to give in to temptation but never suffers any consequences. As Wilde himself said, the public saw much of Wilde in Hallward and Lord Henry, neither of whom are punished. The punishment of Gray did not satisfy the public when they suspected Wilde himself lived a libertine life without consequences. Those suspicions were confirmed when Wilde made the mistake of suing the Marquess of Queensberry for libel, a trial that brought his homosexual activities to light, and resulted in criminal charges and a prison term.

Today we can read *The Picture of Dorian Gray* as an expose of the libertine activities of wealthy Victorian men. Indeed, the future King Edward VII, Queen Victoria’s son and successor, had reputation as a playboy. His mother blamed him for his father Prince Albert’s death, because while ill Albert had unwisely traveled to Ireland to reprimand his son for one of his love affairs.

Its been a couple of years since I read it but I remember liking it well enough for me to deepdive into more works by Wilde.

His screenplays are great to listen to on audiobooks, especially the importance of being Ernest.

It's a masterpiece. I've read it several times.

If you enjoyed Wilde and wouldn't mind to know his lighter side, I would suggest you try reading The Importance of Being Earnest. It's a play, so it's not to everyone's taste. To me it was one of the wittiest funniest books I ever read.

I read it over 20 years ago but it's one of those stories that stays fresh in your mind. Excellent work.

Congrats on getting through THAT chapter in the middle!

You might like the modern take on it by Will Self for a compare contrast read. I think it's called Dorian.

Did you read the censored or the uncensored version?

It was one of the first English "classics" I read when I was a young teen and I was absolutely smitten by it. Definitely shaped my imagination and my ideas of what creative concepts are going forward. It's still super intriguing and my copy safely stands on my "fave and precious books" shelf. :)

I read the book well after I'd seen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, so I kept seeing Dorian through that lense the whole time. It was still a very enjoyable and fascinating read, though.

Haha what a coincidence, I just started the Picture of Dorian Gray earlier today. I’m only 21 pages in but I’m super excited to read it further! Glad you enjoyed it!

I read it about 11 or 12 years ago after watching the film version of that with Ben Barnes in it. I actually liked it. I wanted to read more books from him but didn't get to it.

I have always assumed that this book is where JK Rowling got the idea for the horcrux.

I thought the book was a bit of a slog. Until the very end which completely redeems the work put into reading this book. Very British indeed.

I love that book. The preface especially is very poignant and relevant to our current times. My favorite excerpt:

“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”

I found the writing itself to be great and I hated every character. They’re all reminiscent of douche bag, edge lords with low self esteem. In my 20s I may have found been more impressed by the faux wisdom.

I’ve never read it, but now it’s on my To Read List!

i read dorian gray for the first time a few months back as well! i was hesitant, as i hadn't picked up a classic in a while and it can get difficult to ease into the language of the time. i thought it began quite slow, but once i hit the halfway mark, i was struck by the realization that i was reading a masterpiece.

the prose is beautiful and wilde fabricates a story that really stays with the reader. it's so good and clever in the concept and the execution. amazing piece of writing and a great introduction to gothic literature. one of the stories that remind me why classic novels are held in such high regard.

reading dorian progress further and further into corruption is a masterpiece within itself. lord henry... he's certainly a character!

I read it a couple of years ago, and it was okay, but there were a few things that bugged me. Lord Henry seemed to exist for the sole purpose of making dad-joke-esque quips, and I'd roll my eyes each time he said something "profound". The part where Dorian spent years/decades perfecting every single hobby and skill dragged on for me as well.

I mostly enjoyed it, though. But I'd be lying if I said that I was upset about what happened to Dorian at the end. For one, he turned into a pretty terrible person, and for two, he should have known better than to have stabbed that painting. :P

This is such a great book. A real classic that doesn't get talked about enough.

Loved it! Read it when I was a lot younger and I still consider it as one of the most engaging classics I’ve read.

Would love to re-read it now that I’m 10 or so years older to see what I would get out of it this time.

I love it. I think Lord Henry is the most quotable literary character of all time. Everything out of his mouth is gold.

Loved it too. The yellow book that Dorian read is actually Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans. It’s on my TBR.

I really hated this book.