October 16th 2012 marked the 158th anniversary of the birth of one of my favorite writers – Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde was certainly one of the wittiest men who ever lived. He is remembered for many things. He enjoyed great fame and success as a writer of short stories, plays, poems, prose and essays. Of his short stories he is best remembered for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” which is one of my favorites. If you take the time to read “The Picture of Dorian Gray” you owe it to yourself to read the annotated , uncensored edition of the work which was recently published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press and edited by Nicholas Frankel. (ISBN 978-0-674-05792) . I started reading the popular press version of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” last year and immediately upon publication of the uncensored version I bought a copy and read both versions at the same time. The original work was first published in the July 1890 edition of Lippincott’s magazine. It had a stormy beginning. It was condemned as being “unclean and vulgar”. Most of the versions of the work that were published omitted much of what Oscar actually wrote. The Belknap Press edition provides an accurate rendering of the story as it was actually written. We are greatly indebted to the editors for restoring this version to the popular press.
