The Picture of Dorian Gray in the Twenty-First Century: New Essays on Oscar Wilde’s Classic Novel, Richard A. Kaye

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The Picture of Dorian Gray in the Twenty-First Century: New Essays on Oscar Wilde’s Classic Novel
Edited by Richard A. Kaye
Paperback

Oscar Wilde’s only novel has never stopped haunting readers—and this landmark collection reveals why. In The Picture of Dorian Gray in the Twenty-First Century, leading scholars revisit Wilde’s infamous tale of beauty, decadence, and moral decay, exploring its shifting meanings across literature, art, film, and queer theory.

The fourteen essays gathered here range from analyses of Wilde’s early literary influences and the scandalous Victorian reception of Dorian Gray to its ongoing afterlife in contemporary culture—from stage and screen to dance, photography, and television. Contributors examine the novel’s complex engagement with aestheticism, gender, and the body, while also tracing how its gothic sensuality prefigures modern notions of identity, celebrity, and queerness.

Featuring rare European reviews translated into English for the first time and an unpublished satirical “exam paper” parody by Max Beerbohm, this richly illustrated volume repositions Dorian Gray as both a quintessentially nineteenth-century artifact and an uncannily twenty-first-century text—one that continues to reflect our obsessions with youth, image, and desire.

Perfect for readers of literary criticism, queer studies, and Wilde devotees alike, this collection illuminates how Dorian Gray remains as provocative, dangerous, and darkly beautiful as ever.