The Picture of Dorian Gray

by Oscar Wilde

Link/Listening Time (13 chapter version): https://librivox.org/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-by-oscar-wilde/ 6 hours 11 minutes

Link/Listening Time (20 chapter version): https://librivox.org/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-1891-version-by-oscar-wilde/ 9 hours 30 minutes

Theme: Hedonism

Quote:“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” 


(^^excuse me while I wash my hands for quoting Lord Henry...my least favorite character...yuck!)

(There. I feel much better now.)

I listened to the 13 chapter version first: It's basically the bare-bones of the story, with fewer characters and not much of a backstory.

Dorian is presented as kind of a blank-slate character.  We're not told much about his childhood. We're meant to see him as Basil and Lord Henry do: an attractive, wealthy young man who is just coming into society and has a great capacity to enjoy life. Of course, he doesn't stay that way. And we're more privy to his downfall than Basil or Henry are.

The 20 chapter version has more characters, and it gives a few of them backstories. Dorian is no longer a blank slate; he's a kid who had no relationship with his mom and an implied abusive relationship with his custodial grandfather. For me it's easier to why he's so gullible and impressionable to the indoctrination tactics of Sir Henry. It's less about his inherent youthful vanity, and more like he has a void in his life that he's trying (in vain) to fill.

Also in this version, Sybil (who is explicitly stated to be an only child in the original 13 chapter version) has a brother named James. I really like James, he's the polar opposite of everything Dorian comes to represent and I think the story really needed him.

I would favor the 20 chapter version, except there are more Lord Henry monologues in it. (And I REALLY hate Lord Henry monologues...)

My biggest problem with this story is the concept of hedonism it represents. It's more than just simply being vain, self-indulgent or pleasure seeking; most of us have those traits, but we recognize them as vices and at least attempt to keep them in moderation. Henry and Dorian glorify these vices into virtues. To them, self-indulgence is the highest and noblest aim one can achieve in life. 

It wouldn't be so bad, but the story is pretty much told through the eyes of these people. Not through the eyes of the nobler people like Basil or James. 

I just don't like being in their heads that much. They're really horrible people.