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Oscar Wilde
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The Picture of Dorian Gray: The Uncensored Original Text (Annotated) (First Ebook Edition) Kindle Edition

by Oscar Wilde (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 75 ratings
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- Provides a detailed discussion of historical context and detailed textual annotations

In 1890, Oscar Wilde submitted the typescript of his new novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, to the editor of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, which had contracted to publish it. Shocked by what he read, the editor proceeded, without Wilde’s knowledge, to cut numerous explicit or suggestive passages. After the outcry following the magazine’s publication, Wilde was pressured into making further changes for the 1891 release of the novel in book form. Every version of the book published since has used this heavily-censored 1891 text. Until now.

Stonewall Riot Press is pleased to present the first ebook edition of the novel Oscar Wilde actually wrote, the one he intended the public to read. Shocking, erotic, at times even pornographic, Wilde’s original Picture of Dorian Gray is both a braver and more moving work than the version readers have always known. In this meticulously-edited edition, based on the author’s unpublished typescript and specially formatted for Kindle, readers can finally experience Wilde’s masterpiece as he intended it, free from the homophobic censorship that has marred it for over a century.

“The version that Wilde submitted to Lippincott's is the better fiction. It has the swift and uncanny rhythm of a modern fairy tale – and Dorian is the greatest of Wilde's fairy tales.”
Alex Ross (New Yorker)

“It's a revelatory exercise to examine the text of Wilde's original typescript. It yields a deeper understanding of its author and of the hypocrisy and intolerance of late-Victorian English society which led to his two-year imprisonment for ‘gross indecency’.” Joel Greenberg (The Australian)

“The typescript is, besides truer to Wilde's original intentions, a vastly better novel than the one most of us know. To call Wilde's earlier version leaner would miss the flavor and point of this aestheticism-drenched work, but it's a swifter, bolder, more uncompromising, less moralistic and in every respect more affecting work than its edited, rewritten, or otherwise censored versions.” Tim Pfaff (Bay Area Reporter)
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  1. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  2. Publication date
    October 18, 2011
  3. Language
    English
  4. File size
    407 KB
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005XO38KW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stonewall Riot Press (October 18, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 18, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 407 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 148 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 75 ratings

About the author

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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and Magdalen College, Oxford where, a disciple of Pater, he founded an aesthetic cult. In 1884 he married Constance Lloyd, and his two sons were born in 1885 and 1886.

His novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), and social comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), established his reputation. In 1895, following his libel action against the Marquess of Queesberry, Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for homosexual conduct, as a result of which he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898), and his confessional letter De Profundis (1905). On his release from prison in 1897 he lived in obscurity in Europe, and died in Paris in 1900.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
75 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

rjones2818
5.0 out of 5 stars As pretty as a picture...and just as revealing.
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2012
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The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of those stories that your supposed to and not supposed to read at the same time. You're supposed to read it because it's a classic (no need for quotes around classic). On the other hand, it's pretty much about giving in to one's lesser wants and needs. We've all probably seen Dorian at one time or another. If we're lucky, we see him before the fall. There is something about a beautiful youth who has yet to fell the fingers of corruption. Many have seen him during the process of corruption (gosh...we may have even participated in said corruption). We've probably even seen him near the end of the process. Oscar Wilde's novel is brilliant. It covers the process of corruption very well. The ending is cliche, but it wasn't (probably) at the time.

And, since I'm writing this for the e-book (uncensored), the model on the cover of the book is, ummmmm..., worth considering being corrupted by or corrupting.
2 people found this helpful
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J. A. Sanderson
4.0 out of 5 stars If You Shop, Your Privacy is Already Gone
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2015
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I bought this on my kindle 4 years ago, and 4 years later when I finished reading it, Amazon sent me an e-mail asking how I liked it and would I write a review? Clearly, at some point, I had clicked the button that said "Agree" without reading the fine print that Amazon would also keep track of how much I read or when I finish a book. I know it's all happening in a computer and there is not some Amazon employee trapped in my attic monitoring what I do with my Amazon purchases, but I still feel very creeped out and violated by the idea that they know what I read, and when I read it anyhow much. And I get it, privacy is so last decade, but even if Big Brother is just a computer program, its still not good and none of their damn business, even though they think it's entirely their business. I guess if I want to read the Revolutionaries' Handbook, or How to Build an Atom Bomb in Your Kitchen, I should go to a brick and mortar store and pay cash. I half expect Jeff Bezos to get the results of my colonoscopy before I do, so he knows whether or not to show me adds for chemo.
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Conrad Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book to me, but I'm not that widely read
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2013
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I'm not an avid reader, at least when it comes to fiction, but I really loved this book. Oscar Wilde is a fascinating person in general and a lot of his personality bleeds through in the dialogue. I've never read the censored version of the text, so I can't comment on any changes. There are certainly some rather blatant references to homosexuality, but that's by no means a bad thing (I may be a tad bias here). The only thing I might pick out as a flaw is that the book reads a bit like a screenplay, but that's an unfair criticism given Wilde's background. Honestly, I can't say much bad about it at all.
One person found this helpful
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Laletta
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the more famous censored version
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2021
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I adore it! The censored version is long and ugly in comparison to this one. The material he added later to me feels unnecessary.
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armando flores
5.0 out of 5 stars knowing the author
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2015
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I am glad to have read this. I have a better understanding of the author and the way he describes, What is Beauty. Each character communicates the authors true feelings. When I consider the time, place and society, I can see more of the author in this work.
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Sick of It All
5.0 out of 5 stars Super-Gay
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2014
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This novella is as homoerotic as it gets. In fact, this book is so extraordinarily gay, Richard Simmons shows up in it.

You better like your reading extra gay, because that's what you're getting.
4 people found this helpful
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George
5.0 out of 5 stars always
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2014
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Fascinating moral tale of debauchery and vanity. Easy to read but not great literature. It might have been more interesting if it were actually autobiographical and not as much fantasy.
One person found this helpful
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Michelle M. Kirby
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2015
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I love this story.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Hell's Bells
5.0 out of 5 stars of course it's brilliant! With thanks for making the Uncensored version available ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2018
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It's the original: of course it's brilliant!
With thanks for making the Uncensored version available - I enjoyed comparing it to the final publication; such interesting edits and alterations!
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Stella
5.0 out of 5 stars Molto interessante!
Reviewed in Italy on September 6, 2013
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Sono una "maniaca" di Oscar Wilde, "Il ritratto di Dorian Gray" fu il primo libro di lui che mi capitò per le mani, e da lì partì tutto. Ma non avevo mai saputo che la versione originale fosse stata "purgata", censurata, quindi mi accingo a leggere questo, che è il libro VERO, come realmente l'avrebbe pubblicato Wilde, con vera e profonda emozione. E' in inglese e sarà dura, ma ho dato una scorsa alla prima pagina, e penso che non sarà una cosa impossibile. Consigliato!
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Nicholas De La Rosa III
5.0 out of 5 stars Great unabridged version
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2013
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I was glad to read this again. Great job with the unabridged version. Shows the what the true novel really was.
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