The Preface, written by Oscar Wilde, to his novel `The Picture of Dorian Gray` written by Oscar Wilde

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10 September 2007

A Preface to Dorian Grey - Critical Analysis

Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Grey was first published in Lippincott 's Monthly Magazine in 1890 . The novel was met with virulent criticism and condemned severely for its perceived homoerotic overtones and licentiousness . It was anathema to Victorian England as it challenged the traditional belief system . Wilde was indignant about the scathing reviews and when his publishers requested him to revise the original tale to suit the book version he jumped at

the chance Consequently The Picture of Dorian Grey was reprinted in 1891 with a preface and six new chapters . The Preface which Wilde saw fit to add to the front of the novel is an answer to his detractors and was written in response to reviews that had slammed the novel as scandalous and corrupt . It allows Wilde to tackle the accusations hurled at his work with provocative epigrams , besides succinctly expressing the finer points of the aesthetic movement , while preparing one to read the novel with an open mind free from prejudice

The Preface was Wilde 's valiant effort to silence the Victorian moral police who had risen up in arms against the revolutionary concepts expressed in his novel . To refute allegations that his novel is immoral Wilde replies that There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book . Books are well written or badly written . That is all (1 . He also objects to the abject insinuations about his own lack of moral fiber by sanctimonious and self righteous critics who felt that the book was a celebration of homosexuality , and therefore reflected on his own depravity . The reader is told that THE ARTIST IS the creator of beautiful things . To reveal art and conceal the artist is art 's aim (Wilde 1 . Therefore one ought to focus on the artist 's offering as opposed to the artist himself . Finally Wilde asserts that art merely serves as a reflecting that reveals the viewer 's innate nobility or wickedness - It is the spectator , and not life , that art really mirrors (2 . In this manner he succeeds in refuting the many charges leveled by the critics against his novel

The principles of the aesthetic movement are neatly encapsulated within The Preface . Wilde reiterates the beliefs of the movement by asserting that art does not need to validate its existence by conveying messages of a moral or educational nature . Art has intrinsic value and upholds all that is the finest in human nature and beautiful in the world Therefore it must be accorded respect and enjoyed entirely for its own sake . Art helps alleviate the ugliness that has taken hold of mankind and society at large because of its aesthetic value and for this alone it must be valued although it is quite useless otherwise - The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely . All art is quite useless (Wilde 2

Wilde added his preface...