Book Description
"Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to sell his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, where he is able to indulge his desires while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only Dorian's picture bears the traces of his decadence." "A knowing account of a secret life and an analysis of the darker side of Victorian society, The Picture of Dorian Gray offers a disturbing portrait of an individual coming face to face with the reality of his soul."--BOOK JACKET.

Product Description
"Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to sell his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, where he is able to indulge his desires while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only Dorian's picture bears the traces of his decadence." "A knowing account of a secret life and an analysis of the darker side of Victorian society, The Picture of Dorian Gray offers a disturbing portrait of an individual coming face to face with the reality of his soul."--BOOK JACKET.

ANNOTATION

An incredibly handsome young man in Victorian England retains his youthful appearance over the years while his portrait reflects both his age and evil soul as he pursues a life of decadence and corruption.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to sell his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, where he is able to indulge his desires while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only Dorian's picture bears the traces of his decadence." "A knowing account of a secret life and an analysis of the darker side of Victorian society, The Picture of Dorian Gray offers a disturbing portrait of an individual coming face to face with the reality of his soul."--BOOK JACKET.

SYNOPSIS

The Picture of Dorian Gray highlights the tension between the polished surface of high society and the life of secret vice. In this updated version of the Faust story, the tempter is Lord Henry Wotton who lives selfishly for amoral pleasure; Dorian's good angel or conscience is the portrait painter Basil Hallward whom Dorian murders. Although sin is punished in the end, the book has a strong flavor of the elegantly perverse. Wilde asserted in his Preface to the expanded edition: "There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all."

The handsome volumes in The Collectors Library present great works of world literature in a handy hardback format. Printed on high-quality paper and bound in real cloth, each complete and unabridged volume has a specially commissioned afterword, brief biography of the author and a further-reading list. This easily accessible series offers readers the perfect opportunity to discover, or rediscover, some of the world's most endearing literary works.

The volumes in The Collector's Library are sumptuously produced, enduring editions to own, to collect and to treasure.

FROM THE CRITICS

VOYA

Fans of the graphic novel appreciate how the genre can lead a reluctant reader to literature in a highly entertaining and palatable way, albeit through a mostly abridged edition. The Whole Story series takes this approach to a more satisfying level and offers an illustrated (cartoons, maps, photographs, diagrams, paintings), annotated (history, geography, pop culture, social customs, animal world, architecture, literature, and science), and historical perspective approach to unabridged great literature. This tremendous series for grades six though twelve can be used in several ways—as an interdisciplinary textbook, a simple yet powerful springboard for discussion, or as a quite enjoyable read. Wilde's Dorian Gray is just one in this colorful series that includes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Around the World in Eighty Days, A Christmas Carol, The Call of the Wild, Frankenstein, and White Fang. This series is important precisely because of its presentation. The heavy glossy pages are illustrated lushly with images that assist the reader in understanding the work's own political, artistic, historical, and cultural world in a most modern of designs. A perfect addition to the curriculum, books within the series are suitable for both the reluctant and avid reader and are highly recommended purchases for all public libraries and middle to senior high school media centers. Illus. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2001, Viking, 272p, $25.99, $17.99 Trade pb. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Stefani KooreySOURCE: VOYA, August 2001 (Vol. 24, No. 3)

Library Journal

This Broadview edition includes Wilde's full text along with an introduction, a chronology of Wilde's life, and several appendixes. All that for $9.95 makes this a steal.

School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up-"The Whole Story" format provides illustrations and annotations to the classic text. Ross's lively and sophisticated cartoons add interest, and historical information helps readers place the novel in proper context and gives insight into its characters. The problem with this attractive, glossy layout, however, is that the text and the quotes pulled from it are not always on the same page. Further, some illustrations and notations visually cut into the narrative and may distract readers. For example, a drawing appears on the first page along with the passage, "In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty," but that quote does not appear until the second page of the story. Useful as a supplement to the original novel, but not a replacement for it.-Karen Hoth, Marathon Middle/High School, FL Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile - Yuri Rasovsky

The famous story of the magic portrait that ages while its knavish subject stays young. With its witty dialogue and extravagant theatricality, Wilde￯﾿ﾽs classic moral horror story reads beautifully aloud. If you￯﾿ﾽve enjoyed the delightfully cynical cad, Lord Henry, impersonated by such actors as George Sanders, the youthful Sheen may disappoint you. He hasn￯﾿ﾽt quite the technique to toss off the bons mots but makes up for it in passion and strong characterizations. His major achievement is his unique treatment of the narrative partly as melodrama and partly as fairy tale, a tone that matches, if not what the author aspired towards, what the author actually accomplished. The bridges of Bo￯﾿ﾽllmann, Chabrier and Schumann piano music are perfectly apt. Y.R. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

AudioFile - Rebecca Bartlett Fischer