Dorian Gray Unified State Exam arguments. Essay “Philosophical and aesthetic problems of Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

In his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde highlights important issues related to the cultural, social and interpersonal aspects of human relationships. In particular, Oscar Wilde, through the artistic images he created, reveals the relationship between art and the inner world of man. For example, according to the artist Basil, art is a certain mirror of the human soul; it reflects the feeling, direction, as well as the moral qualities of a person. The artist seems to put a piece of his own soul into his work, and his creation testifies to the spiritual world of the people he portrays.

But the future of any creation is determined not by the creator, but by the owner of this creation. Dorian laid the burden of all the dirt of his soul on his portrait. The painting bore this burden until the death of the owner, after which it returned to its original form.

In close connection with this idea, the image of Lord Henry arises. He, too, was a kind of creator - the creator of Dorian's soul. His instrument was an erroneous philosophy, which captivated the young man’s mind with extraordinary novelty and mystery, but at the same time undermined his inexperienced and untempted evil heart from within.

Lord Henry calmed the conscience of the protagonist, made him not really care about morality, and thus Dorian Gray began his fall into the abyss. It is likely that he still had the opportunity to stop his fall when, after the suicide of Sibyl Vane, he reflected with a great burden on his heart about his attitude towards the girl, which led to a tragic end. However, Lord Henry, terribly simplifying the tragedy of women's feelings, claims that with her death she only fulfilled her last role as an actress

Step by step, Dorian Gray turns from a man who has a good and pure heart into an egoist and criminal, thereby destroying his own soul. Oscar Wilde emphasizes the idea that only conscience is capable of controlling a person’s life, his actions and, although not correcting them, can reproach them for them. A person is alive as long as her conscience is alive, which can only be destroyed by herself.

O. Wilde's novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is unusual in that it looks like a realistic one, but is not so. This work is the embodiment of Wilde’s aestheticism, his paradoxical thinking

What is the novel about? First of all, about the connection between life and art and what beauty is. The writer tries to create an atmosphere of beauty, a feeling of beauty through the very manner of speaking. He constantly amazes the reader by upending constant ideas and concepts. Each of the heroes is the embodiment of some side of art, the beautiful. Basil is the embodiment of service to art, Lord Henry is the embodiment of the philosophy of pleasure, and Dorian is a man who decided to make his life as beautiful as art itself. But the paradox is that, while declaring beauty as the essence of life, the heroes carry out actions that cannot be considered beautiful. The most brilliant thinker is Lord Henry, who with cold cynicism twists even moral truths simply for the sake of mind games. This is how Wilde reveals the idea that art has nothing to do with truth and morality. The writer shows where a passion for an intellectual game can lead, which has no goal other than the game itself. After all, Lord Henry’s goal is not truth and beauty, but self-empowerment, the affirmation of one’s own personality. Wilde showed the power of a beautiful word and the beauty of a refined thought. But at the same time, the writer demonstrated that there is an area for which paradox is death. This is the area of ​​morality. There are moral principles that hold humanity together, and the paradox is inappropriate here, since it destroys them, makes good and evil relative. And this is unacceptable. This is exactly what the work of art tells about - the portrait of Dorian Gray. The portrait gives a moral assessment of the hero, that is, it does not remain indifferent to morality. When Dorian throws himself at the portrait with a knife, he kills himself, but the portrait remains beautiful again, returning Dorianovi’s flaws.

What do Wilde's paradoxes indicate? Maybe about the fact that people are ugly, but art is always beautiful? Or maybe that the beauty of art requires atonement for human sins, because morality and beauty are in harmony?

Problems of the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

The general assessment of the ideological content of Oscar Wilde's work is considered established and complete. Western European criticism came to the almost unanimous conclusion that the generously gifted and deeply unhappy artist was a pure aesthete and a preacher of extreme aristocratic individualism. His highest, supreme deity was bodily beauty, his religious cult was the worship of graceful form, and his moral law was hedonism, the recognition of sensual pleasures as the sole purpose of life for man.

Wilde’s largest work was the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1890), in which the basic ideological and aesthetic principles of the writer were embodied in the heyday of his artistic creativity. The novel is based on an interesting fiction: the handsome young man Dorian Gray dreams that youth and beauty will never leave him. The artist Hallward creates a portrait that has a wonderful property - all the consequences of Dorian’s vicious life are imprinted on it, while Dorian himself retains a pure, youthful appearance. .

The embodiment of the principles of aestheticism in the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

The concepts of “beautiful” and “beauty” (Wilde writes this word with a capital letter) are placed in the work at the very top level of the hierarchy of values. The teachings of Lord Henry and their embodiment - the life of Dorian - seem to fully correspond to this arrangement. Dorian is beautiful, and beauty justifies all the negative aspects of his nature and the flawed moments of his existence (“the chosen one is the one who sees only one thing in beauty - Beauty”).

Literally all levels of the narrative structure reveal the author’s position, his complex attitude towards beauty. Thus, the plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray reveals that the plot is not the main thing in the novel. Plot completeness arises not as a result of eventual completeness, but as a result of the author’s final assessment. If in realistic works the plot is a way of revealing characters, then Wilde’s novel is closer in type of plot to romantic works, in which “the image of the author, as a subjective norm or the artist’s ideal, thickly colors the entire depicted world with its reflections.” It turns out that the plot of Wilde’s novel is - This is a kind of illustration of the point of view of the story. .

The English poet was a true romantic and hedonist, who maintained the point of view of aestheticism and hedonism to the end, to its logical inevitable consequences. Dorian Gray, undoubtedly reflecting the inner world of his creator, is an integral, free nature, alien to duality and relaxing reflection.

Gifted with all the data in order to take the maximum of pleasant sensory sensations from life, Dorian takes them without poisoning the joy of satisfaction with the poison of remorse.

The outcome of such “abuse” of the pleasures of life was inevitable. Sated to the utmost, Dorian Gray, having exhausted all forms of pleasure, making beauty and art his religious worldview, lost all aesthetic sensitivity under this influence. And, having lost it, he seeks lost sensitivity in wild, rough, disharmonious manifestations. He organizes concerts, the performers of which are “mad” gypsies, blacks, and Indians who played primitive instruments; “wild intervals,” says O. Wilde, and ear-cutting dissonances of barbaric music excited Dorian, while the grace of Schubert, the wondrous sorrow of Chopin and the powerful harmony of Beethoven himself made no impression on his ear.”

Dorian is trying to destroy his portrait, a portrait-symbol, which for some time now began, like a living double, to reflect his vices: the young man’s face remained beautiful, but wrinkles fell on the portrait. The young man is trying in this way to escape from reality, which, in turn, was so condemned by Wilde. Dorian stabbed the portrait, but killed himself: his body, which had become ugly and pitiful, was found by a servant, meanwhile the beautiful and inspired image of the young man appeared on the canvas again.

With this cruel irony towards Dorian Gray, Wilde asserted the impossibility of reckless pleasure regardless of the suffering of others and at the same time the triumph of creativity over the squalor of reality.

As a result, Dorian is punished only when he raises his hand to something beautiful - to a work of art. Art, as the embodiment of beauty, is eternal, and therefore the hero dies, but a beautiful portrait remains to live, just as at the moment of the end of the artist’s work. Everything seems to be consistent with the theoretical views of the writer. At the same time, the ending of the novel may have a slightly different interpretation. The dead man lying on the floor was identified by his servants only by the rings on his hands: “his face was wrinkled, withered, repulsive.” The very appearance of the dead Dorian is anti-aesthetic, and this circumstance allows even in the value system of aestheticism to read the punishment incurred for the crimes.

The entire structure of Oscar Wilde's aesthetic beliefs significantly does not coincide with the system of reference for the truth and validity of the hero's existence according to the laws declared by Victorian ethics and in accordance with our modern views on this matter. The laconic preface reminds the reader that the doctrine of aestheticism, according to the author’s intention, is a set of indispensable rules by which the novel should be interpreted.

The twenty-five elegant, witty aphorisms that make up this preface can be perceived as the thesis of a system of views that was set out in a different form and at greater length in the dialogues and articles collected in the book “Plans.” Some of these aphorisms, formulated with the utmost laconicism, are developed in much more detail and detail in the dialogues.

At the same time, the preface and the novel itself seem to be conducting a kind of dialogue with each other, during which agreement and contradiction alternate. Expressed aphoristically in polished phrases, the provisions of Wilde’s aesthetic program are tested “for strength” in the actual plot part of the work. .

“There are no moral or immoral books. There are books that are well written and books that are poorly written. That’s all,” let us recall once again one of the most provocative aphorisms in the preface.” Another maxim echoes this; “The artist is not a moralist. Such an artist’s inclination gives rise to an unforgivable mannerism of style” [ibid. p.5].

However, the artist Basil Hallward, as is easy to see, has “ethical sympathies” and even some tendency towards moralizing; however, Hallward's art is outside the sphere of manifestation of these qualities, and his moralizing does not in any way affect the artist's friends, except that it somewhat tires them. Here Wilde, the novelist, does not at all contradict Wilde, the legislator of aestheticism.

The idea of ​​the primacy of art, reflecting only those who look at it, “and not life at all” - the idea, stated this time in fragments, received detailed expression in the dialogue “The Decline of the Art of Lying.”

Wilde's concept is based on the fact that Dorian himself reflected the aesthetic views of the author, which later became his life philosophy. The young man is a mirror called “art”, which reflects all the depravity and prosaicness of life. And as a consequence he transfers this to the canvas.

“Art reflects not life, but the one who observes it,” Wilde writes in his letters.

The novel intertwines two completely opposite concepts, which, however, are their basis.

First: the author shows Dorian’s desire to turn life into art, to bring beauty into it. From this point of view, the novel is undoubtedly an aesthetic work, in which, along with a deep study of the soul of the hero who has undergone aesthetic influence, the story of his life is traced, the purpose of which is Dorian’s attempt to make it look like a beautiful portrait. Dorian Gray is a dandy, an esthete, a lover of beauty, surrounding himself with refined luxury. Based on the fact that beauty is the only highest value, Dorian makes this side of being the center of his spiritual existence.

The second concept, reflected in the novel, paradoxically contradicts the first: the author reveals the limitations of the aesthetic views of Dorian, who fell under the “destructive charm” of Lord Henry. Lord Henry's sophisticated aestheticism becomes a trap for him. In this one can see the scientific and philosophical orientation of the novel, which reflected modern scientific ideas about the evolution of personality and the causes of its degradation. .

The novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is the largest work of Oscar Wilde, in which the basic ideological and aesthetic principles of the writer were embodied.

*The plot of the novel is based on the traditional motif of a deal with the devil and the participation of a magical object (portrait) in the fatal fate of the hero. One day, the artist Basil Hallward painted a portrait of the young and beautiful Dorian Gray, and Dorian himself falls in love with this portrait. The young handsome man, admiring his image, cannot get rid of the thought that the portrait will always have what he will inevitably lose - youth. The unsurpassed wit Henry Wotton meets Dorian, in whom we recognize the features of Oscar Wilde himself.

Dorian Gray falls under the influence of Lord Henry, succumbs to his speeches about the omnipotence of beauty, about its insubordination to any laws. Dorian gives himself over to sensual pleasures, sliding into the abyss of debauchery and crime. Base passions, however, do not leave a mark on him; many years pass, but his face shines with the freshness of youth, its unique purity. The portrait changes monstrously, for Dorian’s soul, embodied in this portrait, has become vicious, deceitful and dirty. The portrait becomes the conscience of Dorian Gray. He hides it from people's eyes in a separate room, which he personally locks with a key. Each vice distorts the image of Dorian on the canvas, and meetings with this conscience were unbearably painful for Dorian. One day he stabbed a knife into the portrait to get rid of this terrible witness of his vicious life (the same knife with which he had previously killed the artist Basil, who painted this portrait). The servants ran in and saw a magnificent portrait of their master in all the splendor of his wondrous youth and beauty. And on the floor lay a disgusting corpse, in which, only by the rings on his hands, they recognized Dorian Gray.

Dorian Gray- a young man endowed with incredible beauty. Falling under the influence of the ideas of new hedonism preached by Lord Henry, he devotes his life to the thirst for pleasure and vice. This is a dual figure. He combines a subtle esthete and even a romantic and a vicious, ruthless criminal. These two opposite sides of his character are in constant struggle with each other. This duality of the hero is characteristic of many Gothic novels.

Basil Hallward- the artist who painted the portrait of Dorian Gray. He is distinguished from other heroes by his extreme affection for Dorian Gray, in whom he sees the ideal of beauty and humanity.

Lord Henry- aristocrat, preacher of the ideas of new hedonism, “Prince of Paradoxes.” His paradoxical, contradictory thinking is imbued with criticism of the entire Victorian English society. He is a kind of Mephistopheles for Dorian Gray.

Sybil Vane- actress, one of the most amazing characters in the novel. Before meeting Dorian, she lived in her own fictional world, the world of theater, and was a talented actress. Love showed her all the artificiality of her world, where she did not live, but only played. With love, the talent in her soul will disappear, as she tries to break out of the world of illusions into the real world. But this is precisely what leads to her death.

James Wayne- Sibyl's brother, a sailor.

After the publication of the novel, a scandal erupted in society. All English criticism condemned it as an immoral work, and some critics demanded that it be banned and the author of the novel subjected to judicial punishment. Wilde was accused of insulting public morals. However, the novel was received enthusiastically by ordinary readers. The genre is a philosophical novel written in a decadent style.

Interestingly, the plot of the novel has significant similarities with the legend of Faust. For example, Faust also received eternal youth from Mephistopheles. There are allusions to other works of world literature. Maturin's novel Melmoth the Wanderer was a major influence. It is from this novel that the idea of ​​a portrait is taken, as well as the hero who is allowed everything. The novel also has something in common with Balzac’s Shagreen Skin. Close in its decadent spirit to The Picture of Dorian Gray is Huysmans's novel Vice versa" However, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is considered an absolutely unique work that stands apart in literature. It poses the eternal questions of humanity - about the meaning of life, about responsibility for what one has done, about the greatness of beauty, about the meaning of love and the destructive power of sin.

The philosophical and aesthetic issues of the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” are very multifaceted; it is also worth saying that the novel is the embodiment of the writer’s aesthetic ideas. An important place in the work and in the entire work of Oscar Wilde is occupied by the problem of the relationship between art and reality. For Wilde, art stands above life. This idea was expressed in the role played by the hero’s portrait in the work. The appearance of the living Dorian does not express the essence of his vicious, depraved nature. Only the portrait shows what Dorian really is. Thus, art expresses the soul, the essence of characters and phenomena more accurately than reality itself.

In the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” one can also highlight the conflict between hedonism and asceticism. Hedonism asserts that the highest good of life is pleasure, and it is also the only criterion of morality. As a principle of life affirmation, hedonism protests against asceticism (from the gr. “ascetic - hermit, monk”) - voluntary limitation of a person’s natural feelings, the desire to feel suffering, physical pain, loneliness. The ultimate goal of asceticism is to achieve freedom from everyday needs, the focus of the spirit, ecstasy. As in hedonism, but by opposite means!

In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the hedonistic heroes are the “theorist Lord Henry” and the “practitioner” Dorian Gray. The terrible scene of the murder of Basil Hallward by Dorian Gray, unfolded to the smallest detail, has a broader meaning than the bloody details of a crime novel: a trivial, purely English murder receives a symbolic and allegorical meaning: a hedonist kills an ascetic, pleasure deals with Asceticism. A real medieval theater. But both characters in this bloody farce are criminal and inhumane, destroying the soul and shedding blood. And the ideal of life - its golden mean - must be sought elsewhere, among other ideas, in the harmonious unity of the sensory-physical and intellectual life of the individual.

Essay

The problem of pure art in O. Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Completed by: student gr. 5 "A"

Verbetc V.A.

Checked by: Shaikina I.P.

Volgograd 2010

Oscar Wilde is a writer who gave rise to an artistic movement called - aestheticism.

Aestheticism is a literary movement that has manifested itself most clearly in English literature. Aestheticism is based on the philosophical idea of ​​“pure art” and “art for art’s sake.” The main task of the artist is the search for beauty. Beauty is elevated to an absolute and is devoid of a moral principle. An artist is ready to sacrifice a lot for the sake of beauty and art, including his life. An esthete in art creates a work for the elite who are able to enjoy art and put it above life. Reality occupies last place in the hierarchy of values, and art is created for its own sake. The aesthetic value of a work of art is immeasurably higher than the value of life and the surrounding world.

Throughout his life and literary work, Wilde praised the power of beauty, although all his works were exclusively praises of virtue and morality.

This paradox is especially clearly observed in his novel, although another theme still occupies a central place here.

This work is, first of all, about the power of art, about the great sacrifice for the sake of art, about the concepts of morality and its connection with art.

Not only in the time of Oscar Wilde, when aestheticism was known, but even now “The Picture of Dorian Gray” occupies far from the last place as the best novel about all aspects of art and the doctrine of beauty.

In this regard, it is necessary to resolve the so-called issue of “pure art”. What, according to the writer, was that true, pure art? And how is this expressed in the novel, with the help of what plot devices and images.

At the very beginning of the novel, we are introduced to the preface, in which Oscar Wilde expresses his views on art, beauty and the artist himself. wilde pure art dorian gray

An artist is a creator of beauty.<…>Those who see the ugly in the beautiful are immoral people, but immorality does not make them attractive. This is a vice.

Those who see signs of beauty in beauty are moral people. They are not completely hopeless. But only a select few see only Beauty in beauty. There are no moral or immoral books. Books are written either well or poorly. And that makes all the difference.<…>The moral life of a person is only one of the aspects of the artist’s creativity, and the morality of Art lies in the perfect use of imperfect means.<…>The artist has no ethical predilections. The artist's ethical predilections give rise to an unforgivable mannerism of style. An artist does not have a morbid imagination. An artist has the right to depict everything.

Thought and Word are the tools with which the artist creates Art. Vice and Virtue are the material from which the artist creates Art.<…>All art is at the same time superficial and symbolic. Those who try to penetrate below the surface take risks. Those who try to unravel the symbols also take risks.

Art is a mirror, but it reflects the beholder, not life.<…>If critics disagree, it means the artist is true to himself.

You can forgive a person for creating a useful thing, if only he does not admire it. But the one who creates something useless can only be justified by immense admiration for his creation.

All Art is useless.

Before us is a manifesto of decadence and modernism. But the entire novel is a clear and obvious refutation of this manifesto. This is a novel about a man who sincerely believed in this manifesto. This is a novel about the hypocrisy of an artist who allows others to experience what he writes about.

Once in his friend's workshop, Oscar Wilde saw a model who struck him with the perfection of his appearance. The writer exclaimed: “What a pity that he too will not experience old age with all its ugliness!” In response, the artist told him that it would be good to paint such strange portraits every year so that nature would only make its notches on them, then the appearance of the angel that Wilde had just seen would remain forever young.

The novel itself shows a clear parallel between this event and the development of the plot.

The action begins in the studio of artist Basil Hallward. There we meet both the artist himself and his friends - young Lord Henry Wotton and young Dorian Gray, who has been posing for Basil for a long time. And as the artist himself enthusiastically admits in a conversation with Harry, he is the ideal that every creator seeks almost his entire life, which is encountered only once and, having lost one, it is no longer possible to find one similar to him.

And in fact, as Lord Wotton notes when meeting Dorian, he is simply angelically handsome. And it would be a pity if such beauty faded away in a few years, like that, irrevocably, into nowhere.

However, Hallward is not very happy that he had to introduce them. He is afraid that Henry will spoil the young man, and then take him away altogether, taking him under his influence.

And he, in turn, openly and directly tells Dorian Gray about his beauty and asserts how bad it would be if such a handsome young man spent the best years of his life without knowing it.

And now the portrait is finished. With its splendor it delights not only the artist, but also Dorian himself and Lord Henry.

Thus, the portrait of a young man Dorian is a kind of ideal of beauty. “At the first glance at the portrait, he involuntarily took a step back and flushed with satisfaction. His eyes sparkled so joyfully, as if he saw himself for the first time.” Dorian was amazed by his portrait, and the thought that in a few years his beauty would begin to fade caused horror. He became cowardly that the years would take away his red lips and golden luxurious hair, and he himself would become disgusting, pathetic and terrible. This thought bothered him, “as if an icy hand lay on his heart.” And then Dorian thought that it would be wonderful if only the portrait aged, and he himself remained young forever. For the fulfillment of this desire, as it seemed to him, he would give everything, even his soul.

Some time passes, and Dorian falls in love with Sibylla Vane, a young actress, to whom he is attracted, first of all, by her incredible talent. But in the play to which Dorian invites his friends, she plays absolutely disgustingly. Dorian comes to her backstage and tells her that everything is over between them. And when he returns home and looks at the portrait, he is surprised to notice that the portrait has changed - an expression of cruelty has clearly appeared on his face. The frightened Dorian decides to return to Sibylla the next day, but it is too late - from the newspapers he learns that Sibylla died after mistakenly drinking some poison in the dressing room, but it is clear that she committed suicide.

So, he once wanted the traces of suffering and heavy thoughts to be reflected only on the canvas, but did his wish really come true? It was scary to believe in the impossible, but here in front of him was his portrait with a line of cruelty near his lips: Dorian felt terrified by the noticed violation of the harmony of art, which was caused by a violation of the harmony of feelings. The portrait becomes a mirror of the hero’s soul, his conscience. This is exactly what the hero himself decides at first.

But then, he quickly consoles himself by following Lord Henry's advice not to dwell on the past, but to look to the present. Basil is at a loss. The artist doubts him and blames Harry's influence for everything. However, Dorian convinces him that if something bad happens, he will definitely trust him, and these words touch Hallward’s soul.

What follows is the whole path of the fall and rotting of the soul of Dorian Gray. With each of his misdeeds, which he committed on his own whim, the portrait becomes more and more distorted, and Dorian is no longer able to see it or keep it in a place open to prying eyes.

He becomes completely paranoid, who every hour, every step he takes, thinks about how no one will see his portrait. How would no one find out what was going on in the soul of the still young aristocrat. He no longer trusts anyone, and when Basil tells him that he is going to exhibit the portrait at his art exhibition, he almost goes crazy.

Instead of telling the artist the reason for his reluctance, he extracts the most revelation from him. Hallward was forced to confess to Dorian his love for him - which really surprised the young man himself. Gray himself believed that there was something tragic in friendship tinged with romantic love.

Meanwhile, rumors grew around Dorian like a snowball. Few people from high society refused to even be in the same room with him, but simply stood up demonstratively and left. He began to exert a bad influence on those around him, and thereby alienated others.

This gossip excited Basil. The artist demanded an answer from his friend, and instead of long revelations, he showed him his portrait, once painted by Hallward. Shocked, for a long time he cannot recognize what he saw as his creation.

His further pleas and appeals to Dorian to help him atone for his guilt and repent, put the young man into a state of uncontrollable anger. Enraged, he kills Basil by stabbing him several times.

Nightmares haunt Gray for a long time. He blackmails his longtime friend Alan, and he helps him get rid of the main evidence - the artist's corpse. His further life is not going well. He was able to get rid of the reminders, but not the memory. Having escaped retribution for Sibyl from her brother James Vane, he decides to start a new life. But all this turns out to be only the will of his vanity. Long thoughts weigh on Dorian, he relieves himself of guilt for the death of Basil and for Alan’s suicide, and even for abandoning Hetty, a girl from the village who is very similar to Sibylla. And then he decides to get rid of the portrait, as the cause of his fears and a reminder of his vices, in order to start all over again, free from the past. He pierces the painting with a knife, and as a result of this dies, becoming what he really was: an ugly old man, whom even his own servants recognized only by the rings on his fingers. But the portrait remained untouched, and the same young man with the appearance of an angel looked out from it - exactly as on the day when Hallward painted it.

PHILOSOPHICAL AND AESTHETIC PROBLEMS OF THE NOVEL “THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY”

The most important stage in the life and work of Oscar Wilde was his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The novel has a very interesting history of creation. Once in the studio of his friend, the artist Basil Ord, the writer saw a model, which struck him with its amazing beauty. Oscar cried out: “What a pity that he too cannot escape old age with all its disgustingness!” And Basil said that he would paint a new portrait every year, so that nature would leave its inexorable signs on the canvas, and not on the appearance of the “cherub” that Wilde saw. This is the story of the creation of the novel that made the name of Oscar Wilde famous.

The novel, written in 1891, is an extremely controversial work. It is influenced by Gothic novels about a man who sold his soul to the devil for unfading beauty and youth.

Wilde's only novel is based on the author's broad literary erudition. In it, researchers easily find common features with the romanticism of the early 19th century, in particular with the works of Hoffmann (for example, the theme of doubles, the existence of two worlds: real and fantastic, dark mystery, as in “Elixirs of Satan”), or Chamisso (“The Amazing the story of Peter Schlemel") and what had a romantic beginning in Balzac’s work resonated in Wilde’s novel. This is, first of all, “Shagreen Skin”, with which “The Picture of Dorian Gray” has too many echoes.

Wilde's novel is very close to the neo-romantic prose of his contemporaries. And here, first of all, it is worth mentioning “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Stevenson, some things by Conrad and Kipling. The list of sources of Wilde’s ideological and artistic inspiration when writing “The Picture of Dorian Gray” can be continued. The main thing that the novel testifies to is that it is a work of art with a great literary, actually book, basis. We can say that in our time this is not regarded as a disadvantage, as something negative. On the contrary, most of the works of modernism and all postmodernist literature of the 20th century were based on the extensive use of the entire array of previous sources. This is one of the most important aesthetic principles of our time. The main thing is that no matter what artistic discoveries of others Oscar Wilde was inspired by, he created an original, outstanding work that belongs to the most significant discoveries of art of the last third of the twentieth century.