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The Picture of Dorian Gray, with eBook Audiobook
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(3.00) - 250,553 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Oscar Wilde brings his enormous gifts for astute social observation and sparkling prose to The Picture of Dorian Gray, his dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty. This dandy, who remains forever unchanged—petulant, hedonistic, vain, and amoral—while a painting of him ages and grows increasingly hideous with the years, has been horrifying and enchanting readers for more than 100 years. Taking the reader in and out of London drawing rooms, to the heights of aestheticism, and to the depths of decadence, The Picture of Dorian Gray is not simply a melodrama about moral corruption. Laced with bon mots and vivid depictions of upper-class refinement, it is also a fascinating look at the milieu of Wilde's fin-de-siècle world and a manifesto of the creed "Art for Art's Sake." The ever-quotable Wilde, who once delighted London with his scintillating plays, scandalized readers with this, his only novel. Upon publication, Dorian was condemned as dangerous, poisonous, stupid, vulgar, and immoral, and Wilde as a "driveling pedant." The novel, in fact, was used against Wilde at his much-publicized trials for "gross indecency," which led to his imprisonment and exile on the European continent. Even so, The Picture of Dorian Gray firmly established Wilde as one of the great voices of the Aesthetic movement and endures as a classic that is as timeless as its hero.
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"wonderful story of a man who finds out how life is and who becomes something that he is not. I think this is what happens with all of us at a certain age, we are all good people at the beginning but we have to change during the life. And the metaphor of the picture is great. "
— Ioana (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Simon Prebble perfectly achieves Lord Henry’s ‘low, languid voice’ and sparkling conversation, while avidly expressing the other characters’ more torrid emotions. Prebble brings the fable’s gothic horror to life.”
— AudioFile -
Simon Prebble perfectly achieves Lord Henry's 'low, languid voice' and sparkling conversation, while avidly expressing the other characters' more torrid emotions.
— AudioFile
Awards
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A Literary Hub Pick of Great Irish Novels Not Set in Ireland
The Picture of Dorian Gray, with eBook Listener Reviews
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" Light on action, long on dialogue, much quite clever. The book has Dorian Gray wrestle with the main themes from Ecclesiastes, and lose. How dissipate would our life be if none of our sins could be seen upon us? "
— Dennis, 2/7/2014 -
" I read this book during college. Amazing story. Something similar to humans desires and learnings... "
— Ana, 2/1/2014 -
" I wasn't sure about what to think about this one. First, it seemed like Dorian Gray was a self-obsessed, shallow freak. Then Basil professed his love for him. I was kind of thrown for a loop. "
— Clarissa, 1/23/2014 -
" It is a really exciting story full of unexpected events. Loved it from the beginning to the very end. "
— Behzad, 1/22/2014 -
" This is for people who only care about themselves, how poor Dorian looks young through the years but his soul get old every moment. You can lie to others but never to yourself. "
— Rosa, 1/20/2014 -
" A wonderful satire of 19th century British upper class. Lord Henry is the very model of everything that the common folk hate about the upper class. Worth reading. "
— Garrett, 1/7/2014 -
" veery good book but maybe a little too theoretical and philosophical...surely need to read it again to understand everything^^ "
— Athena, 12/21/2013 -
" It's the best book of Oscar Wilde. I like this brilliant novel! "
— Kokoro, 12/18/2013 -
" Interesting & entertaining to think of life like those in this story. Thought provoking read. "
— Kristen, 12/15/2013 -
" A suspicion that he was trying to be shocking, but I missed the class on Wilde, and probably missed some of what's imporant about this book as a result. "
— Sarah, 11/17/2013 -
" The plot is excellent, but what really makes this book an absolute crime to miss is Wilde's completely incomparable mastery of the English language. Beautifully written. "
— Joel, 10/25/2013
About Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was born in Dublin. He won scholarships to both Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1875, he began publishing poetry in literary magazines, and in 1878, he won the coveted Newdigate Prize for English poetry. He had a reputation as a flamboyant wit and man-about-town. After his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he tried to establish himself as a writer, but with little initial success. However, his three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, and A House of Pomegranates, together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, gradually won him a reputation as a modern writer with an original talent. That reputation was confirmed and enhanced by the phenomenal success of his society comedies: Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, all performed on London’s West End stage between 1892 and 1895. In 1895, he was convicted of engaging in homosexual acts, which were then illegal, and sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labor. He soon declared bankruptcy, and his property was auctioned off. In 1896, he lost legal custody of his children. When his mother died that same year, his wife Constance visited him at the jail to bring him the news. It was the last time they saw each other. In the years after his release, his health deteriorated. In November 1900, he died in Paris at the age of forty-six.
About Simon Prebble
Simon Prebble, a British-born performer, is a stage and television actor and veteran narrator of some three hundred audiobooks. As one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices, he has received thirty-seven Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie in 2010. He lives in New York.