- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Grove/Atlantic (Jan 15 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0802117295
- ISBN-13: 978-0802117298
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.6 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 454 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,296,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this retelling of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, most of the original's characters are cleverly transmuted into their late-20th-century counterparts: dissolute Henry Wotton, now openly homosexual with a nasty heroin habit; his protege, eager young video artist "Baz" Hallward; and the title character, the quintessential amoral narcissist and a "seducer par excellence" (of men and, occasionally, women). In the summer of 1981, Hallward captures Gray's youth and beauty in a video installation that he titles "Cathode Narcissus." He and Wotton take Gray under their wing and school him in the ways of profligate London living, early '80s-style. By 1997, all three are HIV-positive, though Dorian, of course, shows no sign of illness. Self uses Wilde's plot to examine post-Stonewall gay life, from its drug-fueled hedonistic excesses to the reckoning of the AIDS epidemic. The novel skewers every layer of British society-street hustlers, members of Parliament and the idle rich. Real-life figures also appear, most notably the "princess of bulimia," Diana Spencer. The prose is laced with epigrammatic, lightly amusing pseudo-Wildean wit ("I want my sins to be like sushi-fresh, small and entirely raw," says Wotton), but its wordplay and evocation of debauchery also owe something to Evelyn Waugh and Martin Amis (channeling Hunter Thompson and Irvine Welsh). Self's mannered prose can grow tedious, and there's hardly a sympathetic character to be found, but the writer has undertaken-and largely succeeded in pulling off-a daring act of literary homage.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
To reimagine a classic work-especially when its author is the flamboyant and witty Oscar Wilde-is a daunting task, but Self (How the Dead Live) rises to the challenge. Upon its publication in 1891, The Picture of Dorian Gray shocked Victorian sensibilities. That Self's work will have a similar impact seems doubtful; as a society familiar with the works of Bret Easton Ellis, Thomas Harris, and Clive Barker, we have come too far, or, some may think, sunk too low. This is not to say, however, that Self has not done a masterly job of resetting the story in the era of AIDS, where Dorian's self-indulgent behavior proves to have a particularly devastating effect. The aristocratic Henry Wotton remains Dorian's decadent mentor and master of the bon mot. Baz Hallward remains hopelessly enamored of the Adonis-like young man, whom he talks into becoming the centerpiece for a video installation but for whom he remains an object of contempt. Alan Campbell and Lady Narborough are among the others reprised. Modern additions include Princess Di and the drug-dealing Ginger. Dorian's is a tale that allows Self to indulge his own penchant for word play, black humor, and uncomfortable imagery while continuing to explore the themes of sexual identity and social decadence. It is graphic and violent and definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but as an adaptive exercise it hits the mark. A story well suited to our times, this is recommended for larger public and most academic libraries.
David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Wilde would not approve,
By Sarah (Middletown, CT) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dorian (Paperback)
Wilde was a silver-tongued philosopher if there ever was one: his incisive witticisms weren't disembodied pretticisms, but a glittering facade for dark, multilayered meaning. In other words, he was a man of brilliant ideas and impeccable style, in many senses of the word. Will Self seems to be a man of mildly intriguing ideas and loathsome taste.The punchline of the book offers some insights on the purpose, function, and effect of art. Besides that, the book is a tedious, torturous read (besides being gory to the point of swift apathy and desensitization.) Self's voice is not only grating, but Self-congratulatory and Self-indulgent: he amuses himself with pointless, witless alliteration as often as his characters smoke, snort and shoot all kinds of hideous drug combinations. His treatment of his own characters is sadistic and completely lacking in affection. The book is built around several mildly interesting comparisons with Wilde's original; the last, revealed in the epilogue, being the strongest. And yes, it's sort of interesting to compare 'moral corruption' with the transmission of a virus for which there is no cure. But his ideas lose all appeal thanks to the voices of the narrator and his aggravating flock of junkies (I speak French and I found the constant turd-like dropping of 'bons mots' infuriating; I can't imagine what it would be like for someone who can't understand them at all....) Read the original and let your own imagination fit it to the context of the '80s and '90s.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dorian (Paperback)
Other reviewers' complaints about this novel typically focus on what is graphically unpleasant about Self's depictions of his characters. Well, wake up. It isn't 1959 anymore, when this complaint was raised about William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch. Will Self has created an extraordinarily inventive, imaginative rewriting of Wilde's novel, set in the 1980s and '90s. Only a writer as talented as Will Self could have achieved this re-vision so successfully. The novel is filled with brilliant one-liners, and the plot and characters have also been brilliantly re-imagined. Anyone who is bored by the tiresome "cleverness" of contemporary gay American fiction, with its endless pseudo-dilemmas (how is the protagonist supposed to choose between the cute do-gooder and the devilishly handsome studster who keeps tempting him?) will be grateful to be able to read a novel in which plot, character, and style actually conspire together to create something truly thoughtful and lasting.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Confusing,
By DJ_Bitter (Somewhere) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dorian (Hardcover)
This novel is at best confusing but still intriguing. Most of the time you aren't quite sure what is happening, since the book has a tendency to jump around a bit. But what I had loved it for was that it had captured the decandency of the original. Also was quite surprised too that Lord Henry Wotton was a bigger villain in this piece than the original. I loved the surprise ending.
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