Vivian Grey the assumption that Vivian Grey is synonymous with the young Benjamin Disraeli. The British poet Mary Montgomerie Lamb took her pen name 'Violet Fane' from a character in this novel. Some commentaters have suggested that "Vivian Grey" influenced Oscar Wilde in the writing of his only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Vivian Grey Vivian Grey is Benjamin Disraeli's first novel, published by Henry Colburn in 1826. Originally published anonymously, ostensibly by a so-called "man of fashion," part 1 caused a considerable sensation in London society. Contemporary reviewers, suspicious of the numerous solecisms contained within the text, eventually identified the
The Picture of Dorian Gray he told the publisher, George Lippincott, "in its present condition there are a number of things an innocent woman would make an exception to. ..." Among the pre-publication deletions that Stoddart and his editors made to the text of Wilde's original manuscript were: (i) passages alluding to homosexuality and to homosexual desire; (ii) all references to the fictional book title "Le Secret de Raoul" and its author, Catulle Sarrazin; and (iii) all "mistress" references to Gray's lovers, Sibyl Vane and Hetty Merton. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was published on 20 June 1890, in the July issue of "Lippincott's Monthly