It is a masterpiece and the Quarto collection at Gallimard publishes Nothing is beautiful than the real, the works of Oscar Wilde. We thus find his only novel, The portrait of Dorian Gray.
Preserve your youth
We are in the nineteenth century, in London. Dorian Gray is an extremely handsome young man. So beautiful that his friend, the painter Basil Hallward, is fascinated by it. He makes a portrait of the dandy. Dorian gazes at his beauty on the board and realizes that a day will come where, I quote, "his face would be wrinkled and withered, his eyes dark and tarnished, his graceful, worn-out, distorted figure. cheeks and gold would disappear from his hair, he would become despicable, hideous and frustrated ". For Dorian, this idea is unbearable. He will therefore make the wish that it be the picture that ages in its place and that always keeps his features as a young man, without wrinkles, preserved from the ravages of time, but also marks of his own vices: wickedness, pettiness , hypocrisy. And it works! The painting is becoming ugly, while Dorian's face remains intact. Thus protected, the young man will sink into crime and debauchery.
A very modern book
In 1890, Oscar Wilde first published his novel in an American magazine. This first version scandalized the good society by its allusions, in particular, to homosexuality. While the director of the newspaper had already partially censored The novel published the following year had been further relieved of these provocations to morality. Homosexuality that will be worth a few years later Oscar Wilde to be sentenced to prison. He will be released and will take refuge in Paris. He died there in utter destitution, in 1900, forgotten by all ... But his literature survived. He is admired today and read.