The selective comparison of the 18 editions of the novella is intended, Elfenbein notes, to focus on issues of sexuality, and he also presents material from the court trials and a collection of excerpts under the category of “Love between Men” that includes writing by John Addington Symonds, Richard St. The selection of Ricketts’s piece is well explained, but that of Solomon is not as obvious and Will Rothenstein’s painting of Charles Conder is even less so.
The homoerotic culture in which Wilde participated is highlighted by the illustrations, which include Charles Rickett’s depiction of a sleeping faun for Swinburne’s “A Nympholept” and an allegorical self-portrait by Simeon Solomon. These advertisements are tantalizingly crammed with small print, but are partially illegible in this edition, which is especially unfortunate as Elfenbein does a fine job of placing Dorian Gray within the context of consumerism.Įlfenbein makes a particularly thorough effort at situating Wilde’s novella within a gay context. Elfenbein includes, for example, segments of Wilde’s revisions for the 1891 edition, as well as an illustration of the original title page for Dorian Gray, along with the advertising of corsets, “medicinal food” and other items that appeared on the accompanying page of the first publication.
Students would be well energized by the subjects addressed in the introduction, as well as the contextual materials that make up over a quarter of the book and are divided into the categories of “Textual Issues,” “Victorian Reactions to The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “Aestheticism,” “Science” and “Love between Men.” The consideration of time and aging in the introduction is original, while the familiar topics of genre and publishing history are particularly well explored. Elfenbein’s introduction offers readers unfamiliar with the author and his era sufficient biographical information and no more, which is appropriate in light of the fact that so much is readily available elsewhere.
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