ABSTRACT
Mr. Oscar Wilde’s paradoxes are less wearisome when introduced into the chatter of society than when he rolls them off in the course of his narrative. Some of the conversation in his novel is very smart, and while reading it one has the pleasant feeling, not often to be enjoyed in the company of modern novelists, of being entertained by a person of decided ability. The idea of the book may have been suggested by Balzac’s Peau de Chagrin, and it is none the worse for that. So much may be said for The Picture of Dorian Gray, but no more, except, perhaps, that the author does not appear to be in earnest. For the rest, the book is unmanly, sickening, vicious (though not exactly what is called ‘improper’), and tedious.
