"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a novel written by Oscar Wilde, first published in 1890. It tells the story of a young man named Dorian Gray who is the subject of a portrait painted by the artist Basil Hallward. Dorian becomes enamored with his own beauty and wishes that he could remain youthful and handsome forever, while the portrait ages instead.
Dorian's wish is granted, but with a twist: his portrait begins to reflect the effects of his immoral behavior and aging, while he himself remains unchanged. As Dorian indulges in a life of hedonism and vice, his portrait becomes increasingly grotesque, serving as a visual representation of his inner corruption.
The novel explores themes of vanity, morality, and the consequences of one's actions. It's considered a classic of Gothic literature and a seminal work in Wilde's body of writing, known for its wit, social commentary, and exploration of the duality of human nature.
“Too much of yourself in it! Upon my word, Basil, I didn’t know you were so vain; and I really can’t see any resemblance between you, with your rugged strong face and your coal-black hair, and this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you—well, of course you have an intellectual expression and all that. But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are! Except, of course, in the Church. But then in the Church they don’t think. A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful. Your mysterious young friend, whose name you have never told me, but whose picture really fascinates me, never thinks. I feel quite sure of that. He is some brainless beautiful creature who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence. Don’t flatter yourself, Basil: you are not in the least like him.”
At Peech, we're passionate about enhancing your reading experience through the power of audiobooks. With our advanced Text-to-Speech technology, you can enjoy books in outstanding sound quality and in a variety of formats, including PDF, eBook and text. Whether you love immersing yourself in thrilling mysteries, exploring vast fantasy worlds, or gaining new knowledge from non-fiction, our product supports over 50 languages, enabling you to enjoy a diverse range of genres and authors from all over the world. Experience the joy of listening to your favorite books, crafted into audiobooks with clarity and precision, anytime and anywhere with Peech.
Yes, this book is in the public domain and can be accessed without any restrictions or royalties. The copyright term has expired. In most countries, copyrights last for the life of the author plus 70 years. Therefore, books published before the date of 1924 are generally in the public domain in the US if the copyright was not renewed.
You can download this book for free, for example, on the Gutenberg Project website. This version is available to download and read in various ebook formats, including PDF, epub, TXT and others.
To start listening to audiobooks, you need to follow these steps:
