The Picture of Dorian Gray

"Backgrounds" and "Reviews and Reactions" allow readers to gauge the novel's sensational reception and to consider the heated public debate over art and morality that the novel engendered. "Criticism" includes seven new essays on the novel that reflect key changes in interpretive theory in recent years and reveal the broad range of interpretive perspectives on Wilde and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Michael Patrick Gillespie, Simon Joyce, Donald L. Lawler, Sheldon W. Liebman, Maureen O'Connor, Elli Ragland-Sullivan, and John Paul Riquelme provide their varied assessments. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.