Dorian Gray's Portrait (Book with 2 audio cassettes)

Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: If I could remain forever young while the figure in the portrait ages, I would give up everything for it, even my soul! When Basil Hallward completed the portrait of the young, heroic Dorian Gray, he believed it to be the most important work of his life. But he never imagined the importance this painting would hold for Dorian Gray himself. Because when Dorian Gray saw the finished portrait, he had a terrible thought: the young, handsome man in the portrait would age, while he himself would remain forever young. To the regret of Dorian Gray and those who knew him, his wish was granted, but in a terrifying way.
Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, into a distinguished family in Dublin. His father, Sir William Wilde, was a surgeon, and his mother was a writer. Wilde was an excellent student and won a scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin. In 1874, he entered Magdalen College, Oxford. At Oxford, Wilde was influenced by the aestheticism of Walter Pater and John Ruskin, and he encountered New Hegelian philosophy, Darwin's theory of evolution, and Pre-Raphaelite works, which set the direction for his later career as a pioneer of aestheticism. Although young Wilde had not yet won any literary awards, his striking appearance, witty speech, and unconventional personality had already made him somewhat famous in society. Some magazines even published satirical articles about him. In 1882, Wilde gave a brilliant lecture tour in the United States, and two years later, he married. In 1887, Wilde became the editor of a women's magazine, where some of his novels, essays, and poems were published. Wilde's works were renowned for their exquisite language, original ideas, and distinct perspectives. His novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, published in 1891, was followed by his essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism, both of which were highly successful. However, it was his plays that truly brought Wilde fame. It can be said that every one of his plays was warmly received, and at one point, three of his works were performed simultaneously on the London stage.
The upper class of Victorian-era Britain was materialistic and decadent, with intense conflicts between old and new customs. Wilde's liberal lifestyle and bold political views quickly made him a victim of this conflict. In 1895, the Marquess of Queensberry, after separating from his son, Lord Alfred Douglas, publicly accused Wilde of being a homosexual. Enraged, Wilde immediately sued the Marquess for libel, but his lawsuit failed. Under the harsh criminal laws of the time, Wilde was arrested and served two years of hard labor in Reading and Beltonville prisons. During these two years, Wilde stopped writing plays and instead conceived of his poems Songs from Prison and his confessional work De Profundis, in which the influence of aestheticism was difficult to discern. Wilde's wife left him during his difficult imprisonment, and most of his friends avoided him, with only the playwright George Bernard Shaw standing up for Wilde. Upon his release in 1897, Wilde immediately left for France, utterly disillusioned with Britain and having no desire to return. While living in France under a pseudonym, he completed and published Songs from Prison, and later traveled through Italy with Lord Alfred Douglas. On November 30, 1900, Wilde died in his apartment in Paris.