The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of those books that has been on my radar and tbr for YEARS but for some reason I’ve never picked it up. As soon as I did, though, I immediately asked myself: Why have I not read this earlier? It has all the elements that I look for in a classic: a moral dilemma, philosophical ideas, a gothic atmosphere, psychological turmoil, discussions on aesthetics, a healthy dose of decadence, and so on.
I loved it! The constant battle between aestheticism and morality and the complementary discussions on ethics and aesthetics. Well-crafted and so well-written there were so many elements to enjoy: the gradual manipulation of Dorian by Lord Henry Wotton that leads to decadence and decay, the dichotomies between was is hidden and what is seen, what is moral and what is sin, what is art and what is life and how they correlate and contradict. The countless provocations and ideas throw into the dialogue by more hedonistic characters and the attempts at reason by Basil Hayward.
I also enjoyed its London setting. It is always fun to read about places you know well in books, and the historical aspects adds another level. Dorian Gray inhabits a London that we can still see traces of today. As a true ‘flaneur’, he moves through “this grey, monstrous London of ours, with its myriads of people, its sordid sinners, and its splendid sins.” He visits Covent Garden, mentions Euston Road, rides in a carriage through Hyde Park and crosses the social border to the East End.
His house is situated in Grosvenor Square, where Wilde himself lived 1882-3, and which central location just below Oxford Street means that all of Central London lies accessible at Dorian Gray’s feet.
I went to Grosvenor Square just after having finished the novel and could not help but wonder in which of these houses (and attics) Dorian Gray (and his picture) lived? Did he cross the leafy green on his way out into the shadowy night?
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