The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings Enriched Classi Edition Contributor(s): Wilde, Oscar (Author) |
|
ISBN: 1416500278 ISBN-13: 9781416500278 Publisher: Simon & Schuster OUR PRICE: $7.19 Product Type: Mass Market Paperbound - Other Formats Published: May 2005 Annotation: ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP The classic Gothic tale of horror that explores the pleasures and dangers of a life of decadence. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: - A concise introduction that gives readers important background information - A chronology of the author's life and work - A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context - An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations - Detailed explanatory notes - Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work - Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction - A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential. SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Literary |
Dewey: FIC |
Series: Enriched Classics |
Physical Information: 0.95" H x 4.28" W x 6.82" (0.50 lbs) 448 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary. Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work. The well-known artist Basil Hallward meets the young Dorian Gray in the stately London home of his aunt, Lady Brandon. Basil becomes immediately infatuated with Dorian, who is cultured, wealthy, and remarkably beautiful. Such beauty, Basil believes, is responsible for a new mode of art, and he decides to paint a portrait of the young man. While finishing the painting, Basil reluctantly introduces Dorian to his friend Lord Henry Wotton, a man known for scandal and exuberance. Wotton inspires Dorian to live life through the senses, to feel beauty in everyday experience. Dorian becomes enthralled by Wotton's ideas, and more so becomes obsessed with remaining young and beautiful. He expresses a desire to sell his soul and have the portrait of him age, while he, the man, stays eternally young. A tragic story of hedonism and desire, The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde's only published novel. Other writings include De Profundis and The Ballad of Reading Gaol. Enriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author's personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research. Read with confidence. |
Contributor Bio(s): Wilde, Oscar: - Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854, to the Irish nationalist and writer "Speranza" Wilde and the doctor William Wilde. After graduating from Oxford in 1878, Wilde moved to London, where he became notorious for his sharp wit and flamboyant style of dress. Though he was publishing plays and poems throughout the 1880s, it wasn't until the late 1880s and early 1890s that his work started to be received positively. In 1895, Oscar Wilde was tried for homosexuality and was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Tragically, this downfall came at the height of his career, as his plays, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, were playing to full houses in London. He was greatly weakened by the privations of prison life, and moved to Paris after his sentence. Wilde died in a hotel room, either of syphilis or complications from ear surgery, in Paris, on November 30, 1900. |