About this title: ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP The classic Gothic tale of horror that explores the pleasures and dangers of a life of decadence. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: - A concise introduction that gives readers important background information - A chronology of the author's life and work - A timeline of significant ...
read more
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780553212549ISBN:0553212540
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 512 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: Young adult. A good copy-sturdy binding and clean pages. Some cover wear. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1983-01-01
ISBN-13:9780553212549ISBN:0553212540
Description: Good. Heavy highlighting. General paperback wear, bends in spine, possible bends from reading on cover, bookstore stamp inside cover. Quick response! read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780553212549ISBN:0553212540
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 512 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: Young adult. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classic & Loveswept, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780553212549ISBN:0553212540
Description: Very Good. Book clean and unmarked. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray (and Other Writings) New York: Bantam Books, 1982 487 pgs. $4.95 0-553-21096-3
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, a delightfully fascinating novel, has immediately enrooted and heavily stressed themes such as the dangers of vanity and pride. The protagonist of the novel is Dorian Gray, a youthful, passionate, beautiful, and terribly vain aristocrat who lives in the nineteenth century. Dorian is an attractive character that many characters in the novel marvel at and adore. But Dorian's vanity conquers his life early, and drives Dorian to create a way to see the evil of his soul that is belied by his beauty. The mind-stretching novel The Picture of Dorian Gray challenges the thinking abilities of the brain with its mature pieces of philosophy, intelligent humor, and unique plot.
One would call Dorian Gray beautiful, not handsome, with his "finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. All the candour of youth was still there, as well as all youth's passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world". Dorian Gray would often pose for portraits done artist and friend Basil Hallward. Lord Henry, a great philosopher, thinker, and friend of Basil's, discusses the treasure of youth with Dorian. After Basil finishes Dorian's portrait, Dorian wishes that his youth would be forever present like the portrait's beauty. The fateful wish that Dorian utters is, at that moment, granted to his utter shock. When Dorian Gray falls in love and then loses interest, his now rejected lover commits suicide, then he discovers for the first time that his portrait has morphed from a previously handsome physical features to cruel and chilling features. He later finds out that with each immoral act (or sin) he commits, his portrait pictures his marred soul with hideous features.
After the mortifying experience Sybil's suicide, Dorian Gray decides to live morally in order to keep his portrait beautiful and innocent. But negative influences change Dorian's morals. For example, Lord Henry argues with Dorian that it was not Dorian's fault that Sybil Vane is dead. Another time, Lord Henry gives a book to Dorian that changes his morals and manipulates him to live a life of "sin and hedonism" (this book is suspected to be written the novel À Rebours written by French novelist Joris-Karl Huysman's). Vanity, weakness, and self-denial are what allow Dorian to willingly surrender to evil, and causing his portrait to gain a repulsive appearance. Eventually, either he or the portrait must go.
In the novel, there are hardly any clues of what the turnout of the story will be, so readers will be kept in deep suspense and apprehension. The only way to fully accept and reach the ending of this story is to read this captivating novel The Picture of Dorian Gray."
"So you want to remain eternally young? This book will tell you an engrossing moralistic tale that paints the picture of where the deadly sin of vanity can take you. It will take you into a descent into a hell full of shadows where the light will never touch you.
This is a classic dark tale of intrigue. It is filled with the depths to which the human condition can sink. It is a page turner, but it may leave you feeling empty at the end. That is what it did for me. Nevertheless, it is a haunting book that is well worth reading. Oscar Wilde will speak from his grave throughout the centuries through this book.
As the author of a spiritually-themed book, I appreciated this book for the most unusual reasons. I am a former addict who knows what it is like to experience hell within life. The hopeful note within this book is that it will wake the reader up to taking responsibility for his or her own life. That is what I have had to do with my own. Thank God for books that can wake us up to that reality so that we do not have to sink into the abyss of nothingness.
Davis Aujourd'hui, author of "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude""
"Oscar Wilde is easy to read and quite entertaining. This collection starts with The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is a fairly short novel. It's quite good, although rambling at times. I've only ever read Wilde's plays before, so it was strange to read his signature silly dialogue in a mostly serious novel. It was good, and worth the short read. This collection also included several of Wilde's plays: Landy Windermere's Fan, which was okay; An Ideal Husband, which is decent, and The Importance of Being Ernest, which is deliciously funny. My only complaint about that last one is that I have seen the film adaptation, and I cannot imagine the characters of Jack, Agly, and Lady Bracknell as anyone but Colin Firth, Ruberrt Everett, and Judi Dench (respectively). The collections wraps up with the narrative poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," which he wrote in prison towards the end of his short but flamboyant life. It's a good assortment of his work; I highly recommend this collection to anyone wanting to get to know Oscar Wilde better."
"This is one of my favorite books of all time. I don't know how many times I've read it but I get lost in the language each time. The copy I have is a tiny little black hardcover that my high school English teacher gave to me. It's an old library copy with those slippery thin pages that just feels good to hold. Just talking about this makes me want to read it again!"
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
