Synopsis:
Oscar Wilde's only novel, it describes the young and handsome Dorian
Gray who, after having a picture painted of him, is advised by a friend
that he will not always have his good looks. Troubled by his fate to
age, he wishes that the painting could bear the weight of his frivolous
lifestyle, and he could stay young... a wish which is granted. He's then
plagued forever by the shame of the painting, as every sin he commits
ages and disfigures the painting a little, until his soul is laid bare
on the canvas, and his attempts to conceal it from the eyes of the world
become more desperate...Review: Although not as good as his short stories ("The Selfish Giant" and "The Happy Prince" come to mind), it is still full of the intellect and with that Wilde was known for. Sadly, though, it lacks the variety of themes to be called a truly great novel- essentially, the folly of youth, the desire to be at the peak of beauty forever, and the fact that the soul is damaged by every sin we commit are where the insights end (more on that shortly)...
The characters are vaguely likeable, but not especially memorable (to the point where I'm starting even now to forget their names!)... with the possible exception of Lord Henry Wotton. The friend of both the artist (Basil Hallward) and Dorian Gray, he is essentially the catalyst for the proceeding story-line. It's him who reveals to Dorian that his looks are temporary, and any attempts to avoid his fate are futile. By far the most intellectual of the group, from whose mind and speech Wilde projects his own philosophies of life, his rants and monologues lend an appealing tangent to the story. Combined with the fact that he's the proverbial sh*t stirrer throughout, delighting in provoking both characters with his philosophical "wisdom" and knowledge gained from life, he's without a doubt the most engaging feature of the book (despite the fact that he's a Lord, and even though you get the feeling that, if you were to meet him in real life, you'd scarcely be able to resist the temptation to punch him in his smarmy, "know-it-all" face).
Back to the message- never before has this moral been so applicable, in this "vacuous" and "superficial" generation, with "selfies", "facebook" and "instragram" being the current buzzwords (we'll see for how long!). We live in a time in which unless something has photographic evidence to accompany it, be it going to the gym, flexing your muscles in front of the mirror having been to the gym, or a home-made sushi roll, then it DIDN'T happen. Am I saying that, by reading this book, the youth of our time will be snapped out of a spell upon closing the back cover, and receive a spiritual washing, in which they look at a person's soul and character before looking at their facebook page? Probably not- greater writers have tried and failed before, and it would take more than the scribings of even the sharpest literary intellect to alter that route even slightly...
And yet, I realize already that I've been too harsh on this generation, so let me make a mends. The point of this book is that society has always been vain; humans have always feared aging (a precursor to our eventual death), and have consistently gone to extreme lengths to delay the process. This attitude is no more abundant today than it was in Wilde's time. It's possible that one could argue that nowadays, it's closer to the surface, more accessible and publicly available than in previous times, but that makes it no more or less real, or more or less of a vice. No Western civilization, ever since Western civilization has existed, can honestly say that they truly revere and rejoice in gradually deepening facial wrinkles.
The point being- is there any truly great philosophy inter-twined within the book? Not especially. As already mentioned, it really only has one theme, which is maybe a little over-stretched throughout a whole novel. Which brings me back to my original point- that Wilde's strongest hand is in the art of short-story writing.
Score: 6/10
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