The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Amazon link) was a selection from the book discussion group of my local public library. I've never seen the 1945 movie or any other production of this story. In the book, as you are probably aware, the portrait of a young man ages, while his appearance remains unchanged.

This was a slightly different representation of Dorian Gray than how he was portrayed in the 2003 Connery flick The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In that movie, Gray is rather immortal, as any damage done to his body is instantly transferred to the portrait, while he is healed. Needless to say, this is nothing at all like the book. In the book, the focus is on Gray's increasing moral corruption showing up on the picture. While his physical appearance remains unchanging, there is never the assumption that he can't be killed or hurt. In fact, those concerns are a major part of the story.

Another difference between Wilde's work and LXG was that in the mediocre (at best) flick, Gray (or maybe others, I forget) couldn't look at the portrait or he would die, whereas observing the portrait is a major item in Wilde's work.

This wasn't intended to be a comparison/contrast piece between the book and unrelated movies. Anyway, the most interesting parts of the book are not the journeys into Dorian's psyche, but the drawing room conversations involving his friend Lord Henry. If anyone represents the devil in the book, it would definitely be Lord Henry. Although I don't recall his exact quotes, he's the type of character that would say something like, "I hear that Mr. So and So has been spreading vile gossip about me behind my back. Let me assure you that these wild accusations are most certainly and completely true." Henry's advice reminds me of the Weird Al song "Everything You Know Is Wrong". His hedonistic advice is in the end devastating to the young and impressionable Dorian.

As with my recent review of Tolstoy, it's interesting to think that Dorian was written in 1891 or whenever, in the era of my grandparents' grandparents. Some of the sensual descriptions of male beauty make one not surprised to hear of the author's later legal troubles. All-in-all, it's an uneven work. Dorian Gray is enough of a cultural reference that one should be familiar with the concept. It's interesting and entertaining in places. But, in others it is boring and predictable. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage anyone from reading it that might otherwise be interested in the author or the era. I give it two stars out of five.