We want you to enjoy our presentation. I have borrowed from Wikipedia the following
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde
The first version of The Picture of Dorian Gray was published as the lead story in the July 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, along with five others. The story begins as Gray's portrait is being completed, and he talks with the libertine Lord Henry Wotton, who has a curious influence on him. When Gray, who has a "face like ivory and rose leaves" sees his finished portrait he breaks down, distraught that his beauty will fade, but the portrait stay beautiful, inadvertently making a faustian bargain. For Wilde, the purpose of art would guide life if beauty alone were its object. Thus Gray's portrait allows him to escape the corporeal ravages of his hedonism, (and Miss Prism mistakes a baby for a book in The Importance of Being Earnest), Wilde sought to juxtapose the beauty he saw in art onto daily life.
Reviewers immediately criticised the novel's content and decadence, and Wilde vigorously responded in print. Writing to the Editor of the Scots Observer, he clarified his stance on ethics and aesthetics in art "If a work of art is rich and vital and complete, those who have artistic instincts will see its beauty and those to whom ethics appeal more strongly will see its moral lesson." He nevertheless revised it extensively for book publication in 1891: six new chapters were added, some overt decadence passages and homo-eroticism excised, and a preface consisting of twenty two epigrams, such as "Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. " was included.Contemporary reviewers and modern critics have postulated numerous possible sources of the story, a search Jershua McCormack argues is futile because Wilde "has tapped a root of Western folklore so deep and ubiquitous that the story has escaped its origins and returned to the oral tradition." Wilde claimed the plot was "an idea that is as old as the history of literature but to which I have given a new form". Modern critics have considered the novel to be technically mediocre: the conceit of the plot has guaranteed its fame, but the device is never pushed to its full.
That's a very nice story. I agree with Bob, many major literary works have had their genesis in magazines.
http://www.sinanitos.com
Posted by: Account Deleted | 08/02/2011 at 07:39 AM
A curious corollary and more detailed story to this is found at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sign_of_the_Four) - contents are extracted below. On the linked site you can see the cover pages for the magazines editions.
******
"A Successful Literary Dinner- Lippincott's Magazine, Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde"
Many major literary works have had their genesis in magazines. Among the most important occurred by virtue of a literary dinner at the Langham Hotel in London in late Summer 1889 [ed. Note: August 30, 1889] between a literary agent, J.M. Stoddart, representing the editors of Lippincott's Magazine, and the esteemed authors, Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde.
The young writers engaged in mutual flattery. They also discussed such topics as future wars and what Doyle later called ''the cynical maxim that the good fortune of our friends made us discontented.'' By the end of the meal Stoddart had accomplished what he had traveled all the way from Philadelphia for: commitments from Doyle and Wilde that each would write a short novel for Lippincott's. As a result, Wilde produced ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' and Doyle the second appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, in ''The Sign of Four.''
These appearances are probably the true first editions and since they were published in their entirety are quite valuable and highly sought. One dealer currently lists the Wilde issue for sale at $12,500. The Doyle issue is even more highly sought.
******
[ed. Note: Lippincott's original price for the magazine was 25¢. However, it would have been wonderful to have over-heard that conversation.
I am also wondering, if no one had commissioned these works, would we have "The Picture of Dorian Gray", or would the Sherlock Homes stories have ended with the first novel, "A Study in Scarlet"? This was the only novel of Oscar Wilde. This was the second novel of Conan Doyle, the first one written two years previous, did not get good reviews. In his autobiography, the reason that Conan Doyle said he kept on writing stories was that his Optometry business was so bad at the time that it allowed him plenty of time for writing between patients.
Think of what we might has missed?
Posted by: Bobmonaghan | 06/05/2011 at 07:38 PM