More than 120 years after Oscar Wilde submitted The Picture of Dorian
Gray for publication in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, the uncensored
version of his novel appears here for the first time in a paperback
edition. This volume restores all of the material removed by the novel's
first editor.
Upon receipt of the typescript, Wilde's editor panicked at what he saw.
Contained within its pages was material he feared readers would find
"offensive"--especially instances of graphic homosexual content. He
proceeded to go through the typescript with his pencil, cleaning it up
until he made it "acceptable to the most fastidious taste." Wilde did
not see these changes until his novel appeared in print. Wilde's
editor's concern was well placed. Even in its redacted form, the novel
caused public outcry. The British press condemned it as "vulgar,"
"unclean," "poisonous," "discreditable," and "a sham." When Wilde later
enlarged the novel for publication in book form, he responded to his
critics by further toning down its "immoral" elements.
Wilde famously said that The Picture of Dorian Gray "contains much of
me" Basil Hallward is "what I think I am," Lord Henry "what the world
thinks me," and "Dorian what I would like to be--in other ages,
perhaps." Wilde's comment suggests a backward glance to a Greek or
Dorian Age, but also a forward-looking view to a more permissive time
than his own repressive Victorian era. By implication, Wilde would have
preferred we read today the uncensored version of his novel.
