Since Bud is in the middle of moving I thought I’d create a forum for the Slaves of Golconda discussion of “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” Don’t forget to cross-post your thoughts to MetaxuCaf?, or at least leave a link here.

So Say the Slaves:

Jeff - Necessary Acts of Devotion
Sylvia - Bookworm
Stephanie - So Many Books
Diana - c/o MetaxuCaf?
Kate - Kate’s Book Blog
Ella - Box of Books

Here’s a link to mine, such as it is:

http://pagesturned.blogspot.com/2006/02/three-confessions-or-why-i-dont-have.html

I came to the board far too late to post a standard reply on this, but I did post - and cross-linked - with something that might be of interest.

http://deep-bluze.livejournal.com/

DNW

Just curious, beyond this particular discussion...how do you find out what book is next, and what the deadline is?

DNW

David, Thanks for checking in. I am not a good reader of short stories, but yours seemed to read well. I like how you took the idea in one medium and applied it to another.

We are open to suggestions for future mining assignments. The titles are ultimately chosen through a very lengthy and complex process that involves blood and a secret location. In the end the word will get out, probably here in the forum, as well as at Necessary Acts of Devotion. Hope you will read along with us next time.

Sylvia, thank you for creating the forum--I was uncertain how to do it.

Susan, thank you for playing along.

I read Against the Grain about ten years ago and it appealed to me then. I don’t recall when I first read Dorian Gray, but rereading it now I was immediately taken back by Chapter Eleven. I don’t know if it was plagarized or not. There are a couple things I especially like: the ornate style, the depth of the character’s interest, as well as the items of interest, and the whole idea of the great Age of Decadence. I can’t comment of Joyce’s Ulysses, but Huysmans seems to do a pretty good job of conveying the intricacies of the human mind.

The story idea is great. The mixture of styles is pure decadence. One wonders if there wasn’t something more lurking behind Wilde’s constant jabs at soicety, morals, etc. Still it is good to remember that he still produced a lot of good writing after Dorian Gray. And maybe all fiction is, one way or another, a way for writers to work through personal conflicts.

Do you think the novel would have been better--more beautiful, more honest, more compelling, more revolting--if there had not been a so-called moral to the story?

If anyone has seen the 1945 film version, how does it compare to the novel?

I’ll definitely try to pay attention and see what the next book is.

Regarding the film version - it played more on the horrific side of the story, and played down the underlying morals...a lot of what is amazing about the novel (and replusive) is missing in the film.  Movies, in the end, are almost always made to attract the multitudes and to bring them back again and again, which you can’t do if you repulse them.

David

A bit frustrating to me was how, other than the killing at the end, all the other awful things Dorian did, which gained him such a bad reputation, happened offstage. I didn’t like to be left guessing at exactly what actions were being suggested, hinted at, or referenced.

I read some reviews which rate more recent film adaptations preponderantly as miserable.

Here is, received by our office, a short list of nominations for the next book:
Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Thin Place, by Kathryn Davis
The Codex, by Lev Grossman
The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris
The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens
The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene
Kitty Foyle, by Christopher Morley
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford
The Rape of Lucrece, by William Shakespeare
Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain
Book of Daniel, E.L. Doctorow

Any seconds?

Of the books on your list, the one I’m keenest to read at the moment is Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier.  Booklad recently posted a review of it on his blog that piqued my interest. Another possibility would be to read a Samuel Beckett novel.  Quillhill, didn’t you suggest a Beckett title when you originally proposed this group?  It seems an appropriate choice given that the centenary of his birth (April 13th) is approaching. A third would be a Thomas Hardy novel, given that there are a few Hardy fans among this crowd.  When reading Rereadings, I thought a lot about which much-loved novel from my teenage years I’d like to revisit and write about, and decided that Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles is at the top of the list.  I’d also like to revisit John Fowles The French Lieutenant’s Woman.  Any interest in any of those?

I’m kind of interested in the Dickens, myself, but will read whatever th group goes for because it’s fun.

DNW

I was not bothered that most of the bad things Dorian was up to happened off stage, it made them more mysterious and therefore, to my mind at least, even worse--so bad that they couldn’t even be written about.

Like Sylvia I was rather disgusted by the book. I read it about 10 years ago and don’t remember feeling so horrified about it then. I am not bothered by the implied homosexuality, but by the complete lack of morals. It also bothered me that there is an obvious class separation. The wealthy lead their decadent lives and the rest of the world is there to serve them.

That said, I found the story fascinating as well. Dorian’s paranoia after he killed Basil reminded me a bit of Raskolnikov (I probably spelled that wrong) in Crime and Punishment. And of course, as Quillhill pointed out, the definite Faustian elements.

I also found it interesting that Dorian uses the pursuit of pleasure very much like a drug. He uses it to forget and he uses it so he does not have to face reality. I suppose the whole book could even be read as a story of addiction.

I’ve put up my post about The Picture of Dorian Gray at Kate’s Book Blog.

Dear me, should I be troubled by the fact that I was not disgusted or horrified? I found the idea brilliant. I found the style interesting, the gothic flavor appeals to me. Though I don’t condone or practise that naughty things (implied and overt) that go on, I guess I fell completely into Wilde’s argument, so to speak. Morals implies judgement. Should everyone live according to one set of morals, and whose should they be? Or should everyone live as authentically as they can, whether we think they are behaving immorally or not? I’m not convinced that it’s right, but I’m not convinced that it’s wrong either. And I guess, if it hasn’t been apparent, I kind of admire Wilde, be he contradictory or not, for his bold stance and unending wit--maybe that influences my reception of his work. Maybe I’m just fascinated by a world and way of living completely foreign to me.

I did enjoy the gothic flavor of it, as a horror story it is wonderful and I think that has echoed out onto a wider cultural plane. I’ve seen the black and white movie long, long ago and remember it being as David said.

In the book Wilde says “The aim of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly--that is what each of us is here for.” A few paragraphs later he says that terror of society is the basis of morals. Should everyone live according to one set of morals? Wilde seems not to believe in morals at all, yet Dorian who lives without morals is not a sympathetic character. How could he be with all the harm he causes? Does he realise his nature perfectly? An arguable point I think since I don’t see Dorian as having any kind of core sense of self. His philosophy is not his own, it is Henry’s and his life is based on pursuing the ineffable. He is soul-less in his person, his soul being somehow lodged in the portrait.

I agree with Stefanie that part of the problem with Dorian is that he’s not realizing his own nature perfectly, but uncritically absorbing and acting upon Lord Henry’s influence.