The Picture of Dorian Gray biography, "Oscar Wilde" (1989), the literary critic Richard Ellmann said that: Wilde does not name the book, but at his trial he conceded that it was, or almost [was], Huysmans's "À rebours" ... to a correspondent, he wrote that he had played a 'fantastic variation' upon "À rebours", and someday must write it down. The references in "Dorian Gray" to specific chapters are deliberately inaccurate. Some commentators have suggested that "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was influenced by the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's (anonymously published) first novel "Vivian Grey" (1826) as, "a kind of homage from one outsider to
The Picture of Dorian Gray (opera) and Dorian leaves. The prostitute then tells James that Dorian corrupted her 18 years ago, expressing her belief, common to others, that Dorian sold his soul to the devil for a handsome face. For money, she offers to tell him how to find Dorian. "Scene 5" Several days later, at a hunting party at Lord Geoffrey's estate, Dorian tells Lord Henry of his fear of death. Lord Geoffrey aims at a hare, and Dorian tells him not to shoot. Lord Geoffrey shoots nonetheless, and a terrible human scream is heard. Badly shaken, Dorian thinks it a bad omen. The gamekeeper