Scholars agree that it was unlikely that Wilde was notified of the changes to his novel before the censored version was published.įrankel says in the textual introduction “Although some scholars have argued that the twenty-chapter version of 1891 represents the greater artistic achievement, most now accept that when Wilde revised and expanded the novel, many of the changes he made were…‘dictated by expediency and not by artistic considerations’.” When Nicholas Frankel set out to make an uncensored version available to the public, he wanted to celebrate Wilde’s only novel in the way the author had wanted it to be published. Among many references to sexuality, literary critics and the general public felt most threatened by its subtle homoerotic language Wilde’s editors immediately set to work getting rid of any language that the public might find offensive.
“The Picture of Dorian Gray ” went on to challenge the very strict morality of the Victorian Era. When Oscar Wilde first sent his only novel to be published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine in 1890, he never could have guessed that the public outcry against his work would eventually land him in an English prison on the charges of gross indecency.
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