The Picture of Dorian Gray

First famous for its scandalous content, the novel later became recognised as the masterpiece of realism. Wildes only novel, first published in 1890, posits the idea that the only thing worth pursuing in life is beauty. The novels protagonist, entranced by the perfection of his portrait and realising that his beauty will one day fade, makes a Faustian bargain whereby the gure on the canvas ages in his place. Gray embarks upon a hedonistic spree of debauchery and cruelty, which marks only the portraits face, while his exquisite beauty remains intact. ABOUT THE COVER As though he were the result of a formula for male perfection, this geometric portrait of Gray is illuminated by the feathers of a peacock, a symbol of immortality and vanity.