Oscar Wilde, Art and Morality: A Defence of "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

This volume gathers Oscar Wilde’s own responses to the scandal that surrounded his only novel, alongside the contemporary reviews that ignited the debate. Edited with care, it presents a series of letters in which Wilde defends his belief that a work of art can be beautiful without bearing a moral agenda, and it reproduces the varied newspaper and magazine commentary that ranged from hostile polemic to thoughtful admiration.

Listeners will hear Wilde’s elegant arguments about the separation of art and ethics, his reflections on the influence of Walter Pater, and the broader Victorian conversations about aestheticism and propriety. The collection also offers a window into the cultural atmosphere of the 1890s, showing how critics of the day framed the novel’s themes and how Wilde’s steadfast refusal to edit his text became a statement of artistic integrity.