The Picture Of Dorian Gray () Oscar Wilde

Wilde';s only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life, and concequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to believe in ';art for art';s sake';, to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design . Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment . Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the ';note of doom'; which runs like ';a purple thread'; through its carefully crafted prose.