The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Tales

by Oscar Wilde, Cyrus Rua (Illustrator)

Overview

An innocent's wish, once granted, gives rise to one of literature's most memorable villains in Oscar Wilde's tale of prodigal aestheticism, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Under the tutelage of Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian is lead into a double life - a surface of eternal youth in prim Victorian society barely concealing an existence of decadence, vice and moral decay. The chilling narrative and Wilde's faerie tale collection, "The Happy Prince" are richly illustrated by Cyrus Rua ("The Grimmest of Grimm.") As an added bonus, this volume also features the original Lippincott's Monthly edition of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" as it first appeared in 1890. Life is a question of nerves, and fibres, and slowly built-up cells in which thought hides itself and passion has its dreams. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is the tale of a life ungoverned by will or intention as a single man witnesses, through a chilling portrait, the destruction of his own soul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780973709032
Publisher:	Lysander Press
Publication date:	05/25/2006
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

The ever-quotable Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet who delighted Victorian England with his legendary wit. He found critical and popular success with his scintillating plays, chiefly The Importance of Being Earnest, while his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, scandalized readers. Imprisoned for two years for homosexual behavior, Wilde moved to France after his release, where he died destitute.

Date of Birth:

October 16, 1854

Date of Death:

November 30, 1900

Place of Birth:

Dublin, Ireland

Place of Death:

Paris, France

Education:

The Royal School in Enniskillen, Dublin, 1864; Trinity College, Dublin, 1871; Magdalen College, Oxford, England, 1874