The Picture Of Dorian Gray

'If it were I who were to always be young and the picture to grow old … I would give my soul for it.' The wish uttered by Dorian Gray as he gazes on his portrait forms the basis of this brilliant and disturbing story of a gilded and spoiled hedonist who, Faust-like, is willing to sell his soul for his beauty. First published to scandalized protest in 1890, Oscar Wilde's fantastic melodrama was widely condemned by his contemporaries as an affront to the values of polite society. It has since become one of his most celebrated works, a brilliant example of his power as a storyteller and of his flamboyant wit and aestheticism.