Horror hides behind an attractive face in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s scandalous tale of a Victorian libertine and his life of evil excesses. Though Dorian’s hedonistic indulgences leave no blemish on his ageless features, the painted portrait imbued with his soul proves a living catalogue of corruption, revealing in every new line and lesion it develops the manifold sins he has committed. Desperate to hide the physical evidence of his unregenerate spirit, Dorian will stop at nothing to keep his picture’s existence a secret.
The Picture of Dorian Gray & Other Fantastic Tales collects four of Wilde’s tales of the macabre. Leavened with wit and written with the flare and élan that were the hallmarks of Wilde’s style, they rank among the most sophisticated literary fantasies of the nineteenth century.
Selections include:
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“Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime”—The palm reader told Lord Arthur he would kill someone—and not knowing who, or when, is enough to drive him to murder.
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“The Canterville Ghost”— When a profane family from America acquires Canterville Chase, its resident ghost is embarrassed to discover that he can’t scare them.
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“The Sphinx Without a Secret”—The mysterious woman was known for being mysterious. But was that her only secret?
This volume also includes six prose poems in which Wilde’s fanciful reflections on sin, redemption, and love confirm his reputation as one of his era’s ablest fantasists.
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