Z/Web

Author: Oscar Wilde

My Mom lent me a condensed, children’s version of this, which I read in about an hour, and it was so good I had to read the real thing. I’m glad I did, too, because the real version is awesome! It’s definitely in my favorite book category. First, you’ve got a fascinating premise: a handsome young man gets his wish: his portrait will grow old while he will stay young. Second, you’ve got a book absolutely filled with Wilde’s unparalleled epigrams and witty quotations. I literally at times wondered if I was reading a book of quotations or a novel! Almost every line is a gem. What surprised me was was how similar this book is to Dangerous Liaisons. One of the characters, Lord Henry, basically corrupts young Dorian Gray, seducing him with fine words and clever speeches. Henry leads Gray to the well of evil and the young man drinks deeply. His life becomes a moral wasteland, but while the cost of his crimes are revealed on his portrait, which grows gray and hideous with sin, Gray himself looks like a twenty-year-old. The ending is classic and appropriate. A hundred years after it was written, this book has profound modern relevance — perhaps even more than ever, considering the state of the world today, where people sell their soul for youth on a regular basis. This book is a must-read.

I could quote from this book all day, but here are a few classic lines, just to give you a taste of Wilde’s wit:

Lord Henry on pleasure: “Anything becomes a pleasure if one does it too often. That is one of the most important secrets of life.” Lord Henry on women: “How fond women are of doing dangerous things! It is one of the qualities in them I admire the most. A woman will flirt with anybody in the world as long as other people are looking on.” Lord Henry on boredom: “The only horrible thing in the world is ennui. That is the one sin for which there is no forgiveness.” Lord Henry on skeptics: “Skepticism is the beginning of faith.” Lord Henry on reason: “I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.” Lord Henry on youth: “To get back one’s youth, one merely has to repeat one’s follies.” Mr. Erskine on America: “Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected.”