The Picture of Dorian Gray
4 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by LyzzyBee from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Another classic donated by my Other Half for my Classics Release Challenge in January.
Journal Entry 2 by LyzzyBee from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Reserved for harmaja as part of my Classics Release Challenge
Released on Wednesday, January 05, 2005 at about 6:00:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Sent to a fellow BookCrosser in Controlled release, England United Kingdom.
RELEASE NOTES:
Posted to harmaja today.
Number 5 in the Classics Release Challenge.
RELEASE NOTES:
Posted to harmaja today.
Number 5 in the Classics Release Challenge.
Woo hoo! Guess who got a nice book in the mail today? Me, me, me! Yay!
Thank you so much, LyzzyBee, for including me in your classics challenge! I think The Picture of Dorian Gray is a true classic, and for me the "challenge" part comes from the fact that I've never read it in English, only as a Finnish translation.
It might take me a while to read this book, but eventually I will. I'll write more comments after I've finished reading it.
Thanks again. :-)
Thank you so much, LyzzyBee, for including me in your classics challenge! I think The Picture of Dorian Gray is a true classic, and for me the "challenge" part comes from the fact that I've never read it in English, only as a Finnish translation.
It might take me a while to read this book, but eventually I will. I'll write more comments after I've finished reading it.
Thanks again. :-)
Well, I'm glad to finally have read this classic in English. And sorry for taking so long! It wasn't difficult - although Mr. Wilde really had a great vocabulary! - and I enjoyed the original much more than the translation.
Now I know what people mean when they say Oscar Wilde is infinitely quotable. (Who says that? I'm sure someone has, at some point.) I spotted about a zillion popular quotations from this book alone, mostly from the mouth of Lord Henry Wotton, who speaks in epigrams and is therefore a curiously shallow character.
Dorothy Parker once wrote of Oscar Wilde and his quotability:
If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.
That pretty much sums it up. Well, maybe not. I guess I should comment on the theme of the book as well, and not just the style. The trouble is, Mr. Wilde has made the point of this work so clear in his lovely preface that not much original thought can be added.
All great works of art hold a mirror not just to the outer forms of things, but to the essence of them. Therefore Dorian Gray's portrait shows his soul, not just his outer beauty. And although Dorian can see the ugliness of his soul through the magnificent art of his friend, the revelation alone has no power to transform him. Even great art will only mirror life, not possess the power to change it.
If art had the power to change people, it might change them for the better or for the worse. Then it could be said that there is moral art, that changes people for the better, and immoral art, which changes them for the worse. (And, indeed, this claim has been made, in Mr. Wilde's time as well as in ours.) Whereas the thesis of The Picture of Dorian Gray is that art can't be moral or immoral: it doesn't have that kind of power. Good art can hold a mirror to life, but it shouldn't be judged as "moral" or "immoral". There's only good art and bad art.
Speaking of good and bad art, I don't see why the cover art of this book must be so dull and bland! Something a bit more dramatic would fit the style of this book loads better. Here we have a boring picture of a man (Collector of Coins by Vilhelm Hammershoi) sitting in a drab room, with face downwards, so that even his expression can't be seen. I can't make out what he's doing with his hands: presumably twiddling with his coin collection. Surely no picture of a charming, ever-youthful sinner living in his exquisite, palatial house! Well, can't have it all, I guess.
The Picture of Dorian Gray isn't exactly one of my favourite classics, but as I said, I wanted to read it again and now I have. Thank you so much, LyzzyBee, for giving me the chance to do so! I'm ready to pass on the book now, as soon as I can think of a suitable way.
Now I know what people mean when they say Oscar Wilde is infinitely quotable. (Who says that? I'm sure someone has, at some point.) I spotted about a zillion popular quotations from this book alone, mostly from the mouth of Lord Henry Wotton, who speaks in epigrams and is therefore a curiously shallow character.
Dorothy Parker once wrote of Oscar Wilde and his quotability:
If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.
That pretty much sums it up. Well, maybe not. I guess I should comment on the theme of the book as well, and not just the style. The trouble is, Mr. Wilde has made the point of this work so clear in his lovely preface that not much original thought can be added.
All great works of art hold a mirror not just to the outer forms of things, but to the essence of them. Therefore Dorian Gray's portrait shows his soul, not just his outer beauty. And although Dorian can see the ugliness of his soul through the magnificent art of his friend, the revelation alone has no power to transform him. Even great art will only mirror life, not possess the power to change it.
If art had the power to change people, it might change them for the better or for the worse. Then it could be said that there is moral art, that changes people for the better, and immoral art, which changes them for the worse. (And, indeed, this claim has been made, in Mr. Wilde's time as well as in ours.) Whereas the thesis of The Picture of Dorian Gray is that art can't be moral or immoral: it doesn't have that kind of power. Good art can hold a mirror to life, but it shouldn't be judged as "moral" or "immoral". There's only good art and bad art.
Speaking of good and bad art, I don't see why the cover art of this book must be so dull and bland! Something a bit more dramatic would fit the style of this book loads better. Here we have a boring picture of a man (Collector of Coins by Vilhelm Hammershoi) sitting in a drab room, with face downwards, so that even his expression can't be seen. I can't make out what he's doing with his hands: presumably twiddling with his coin collection. Surely no picture of a charming, ever-youthful sinner living in his exquisite, palatial house! Well, can't have it all, I guess.
The Picture of Dorian Gray isn't exactly one of my favourite classics, but as I said, I wanted to read it again and now I have. Thank you so much, LyzzyBee, for giving me the chance to do so! I'm ready to pass on the book now, as soon as I can think of a suitable way.
I passed The Picture of Dorian Gray on to bookcrosser Kemppu, who will take it to Tampere. It is book #49 in my "2007 Keep Them Moving" challenge, started by Guinaveve.
Hello, the book courier here. I got the book today when I visited harmaja and I will take this book to the next BC meeting in Tampere.
I have read the book before in Finnish. I have also read parts of it in English and discussed about them at language school in Bournemouth, England, seven years ago. As a whole I find the book slightly boring, but the main plot is really intriguing.
I have read the book before in Finnish. I have also read parts of it in English and discussed about them at language school in Bournemouth, England, seven years ago. As a whole I find the book slightly boring, but the main plot is really intriguing.
Journal Entry 8 by chrisim from Tampere, Pirkanmaa / Birkaland Finland on Thursday, September 6, 2007
I grabbed the book from yesterday's meeting.
