[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-347515-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-347515-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","the-picture-of-dorian-gray-introduction","The Picture of Dorian Gray - Introduction","","Editorial introduction explaining the two early versions of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890 first publication and the expanded 1891 standard revision), focusing on how the added “Preface” reframes aesthetic aims and redirects public criticism. It contrasts the 1890 edition’s ideas about art, artist, and morality with later claims about revealing art while concealing the artist, and considers how editorial choices affect classroom study, interpretive framing, and reader understanding of the novel as a whole.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-introduction/347515/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-introduction/347515.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Bintang","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-23","2026-09-22",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":22},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What major difference exists between the 1890 and 1891 versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The 1890 version was first published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, while the 1891 revision expanded the novel and added the now famous “Preface.”","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How does the “Preface” influence how readers interpret the novel?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"It acts as an arbiter that either directs attention to the work’s aesthetics or deflects attention from the author’s aims and social goals, shaping the reader’s view of the whole novel.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"Why is editorial choice important for students studying the novel?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Because many editions treat the 1891 text as the practical copy-text for student use, while distinguishing the 1890 edition as a predecessor, which affects what version of Wilde’s aesthetic declarations students encounter.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},347515,1790122778,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,90,94,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":88,"slug":89},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":22,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962085564381,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","THE PICTURE  \nOF  \nDORIAN GRAY  \nOscar Wilde  \nEdited by James Gifford  \nPublished by  \nMcPherson Library, Special Collections University of Victoria  \nPO Box 1800  \nSTN CSC Victoria, BC  \nV8W 3H 5, Canada 2011  \nEditorial Materials © James Gifford 2011  \nThe Picture of Dorian Gray edited by James Gifford and all editorial content are licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. [HTTP](HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/)[://](HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/)[CREATIVECOMMONS](HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/)[.](HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/)[ORG](HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/)[/](HTTP://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/)  \nTABLE OF CONTENTS  \nIntroduction James Gifford  \nThe Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)  \nEndnotes  \n“Preface”  \nWorks Cited  \ni  \n1  \n144  \n159  \n161  \nINTRODUCTION  \nIN 1890, Oscar Wilde published the first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. After vociferous public responses to the novel’s “one element…which will taint every young mind that comes in contact with it” (Mason 69), Wilde completed his revisions, expanding the novel by half again and adding his now famous “Preface” for what, in 1891, became the standard version of the novel. This situation leaves readers with two distinct and very different versions of this literary masterpiece, one from 1890 and another from 1891 that followed on the harsh public response. This edition uses the British edition of the often overlooked 1890 printing prior to Wilde’s (and his copy editor Coulson Kernahan’s) expansions and expurgations of the text, expansions that include the“Preface” he added to explain the artwork’s relationship to the morality of the artist and audience.  \nHow do we read the “Preface” that stands between the two volumes, translating their aesthetic visions as well as deflecting public criticisms? Do we read it as an ironic way of avoiding the growing criticism of Wilde’s then presumed homosexuality, or do we accept itas a sincere aesthetic manifesto? Is it, as Gillespie conceives Wilde’s process, an instance of “learn[ing] the value or the wisdom of adhering to certain limits within society’s strictures” ( Oscar 55)? In either case, the postscript “Preface” influences our view of the novel as a whole. However, we still need to ask which novel we are reading: the 1890 original (in either its British or American editions) or the far more common and readily available 1891 revision that significantly responded to social criticisms? For students and popular readers, the 1891 text is far more common and the only practically available edition. Although Michael Gillespie’s excellent classroom edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray through Norton includes both versions of the text, its critical apparatus clearly distinguishes the  \n1890 edition as predecessor rather than a viable work for study in its own right. Joseph Bristow’s editorship of The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde contains the most detailed work on the 1890 and 1891 versions of the novel, but it is impractical for classroom use, and the subsequent student edition by Oxford contains only the 1891 text. In practice, the 1891 recreation of Wilde’s novel has become the editorial copy-text for all editions for student use. However, there are consequences to these choices. Wilde’s aesthetic declarations shift rapidly between the two published versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and his comments in other contemporary works again point to different interpretive ventures. In nearly all instances, the “Preface”published between the two primary editions acts as arbiter, either directing attention to the work’s aesthetics or deflecting attention from its expression of the author’s aims and social goals.  \nThe aesthetic opinions as well as the descriptions of the relationship between art and artist here, in the 1890 edition, are more akin to those found in Wilde’s story “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.” and other works of the same period. These aesthetic views of","cbCaicK0tYdBxr0m","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicK0tYdBxr0m","pdf",1458641,182,"English","# Introduction\n## Two versions of the novel: 1890 vs 1891\n## The role of the “Preface” in interpretation\n## Editorial practice and classroom availability\n## Art, morality, and the artist’s visibility","[{\"question\":\"What major difference exists between the 1890 and 1891 versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray?\",\"answer\":\"The 1890 version was first published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, while the 1891 revision expanded the novel and added the now famous “Preface.”\"},{\"question\":\"How does the “Preface” influence how readers interpret the novel?\",\"answer\":\"It acts as an arbiter that either directs attention to the work’s aesthetics or deflects attention from the author’s aims and social goals, shaping the reader’s view of the whole novel.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is editorial choice important for students studying the novel?\",\"answer\":\"Because many editions treat the 1891 text as the practical copy-text for student use, while distinguishing the 1890 edition as a predecessor, which affects what version of Wilde’s aesthetic declarations students encounter.\"}]","The Picture of Dorian Gray - Introduction | PDF",1790067536,280]