The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray The Picture of Dorian Gray is a Gothic and philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde, first published complete in the July 1890 issue of "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine". Fearing the story was indecent, the magazine's editor without Wilde's knowledge deleted roughly five hundred words before publication. Despite that censorship, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press, although he personally
The Picture of Dorian Gray the shorter, more inflammatory, magazine version in England the previous year, published the revised version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray". The only novel written by Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" exists in several versions: the 1890 magazine edition (in 13 chapters), with important material deleted before publication by the magazine's editor, J. M. Stoddart; the "uncensored" version submitted to "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine" for publication (also in 13 chapters), with all of Wilde's original material intact, first published in 2011 by Harvard University Press; and the 1891 book edition (in 20 chapters). As literature of the 19th century, "The