The Picture of Dorian Gray: Ignatius Critical Editions

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Ignatius Critical Editions

Oscar Wilde, Joseph Pearce
$7.95
Publication Date: September 1st, 2008
Publisher:
Ignatius Press
ISBN:
9781586172626
Pages:
365

Description

In true Faustian tradition The Picture of Dorian Gray tells the tale of a young man who sells his soul to the devil in return for youthful immortality, only to discover that the devil's bargain is no bargain at all. What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? When Dorian Gray is asked this question he knows the answer. He has learned his lesson the hard way and has destroyed the lives of others into the bargain. The moral is inescapable, making The Picture of Dorian Gray more than merely a classic of Victorian literature. It is a classic of Christian literature also. This edition of Wilde's novel is edited by Joseph Pearce, author of The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde, and contains critical essays that look at the work from a tradition-oriented perspective.

About the Author

Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an exponent of aestheticism, and believed that art and literature should aim at beauty and pleasure more than reforming or educating the people. The writer's imagination was more important to him than the social relevance of the work. Wilde was censured and later imprisoned for his illicit relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Unable to revive his creative skills, broken and bankrupt, he died of cerebral meningitis at the young age of forty-six.

Joseph Pearce is the author of numerous literary works including Literary Converts, The Quest for Shakespeare and Shakespeare on Love, and the editor of the Ignatius Critical Editions series. His other books include literary biographies of Oscar Wilde, J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.