Oscar Wilde's story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is one of his most popular works. Written
in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, this tale of Dorian Gray's moral
disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence. He responded that, while he was "quite incapable of understanding how a work of art can be criticized from a moral standpoint,' there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in DORIAN GRAY."
in Wilde's characteristically dazzling manner, full of stinging epigrams and shrewd observations, this tale of Dorian Gray's moral
disintegration caused something of a scandal when it first appeared in 1890. Wilde was attacked for his decadence and corrupting influence. He responded that, while he was "quite incapable of understanding how a work of art can be criticized from a moral standpoint,' there is, in fact, "a terrible moral in DORIAN GRAY."