The Picture of Dorian Grey

First Line:

The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.

Description:

Oscar Wilde's classic work is about a man who sells his soul for eternal youth: only his portrait ages, while he remains forever handsome and young. Wilde's allegory, first published in 1890, provides an interesting take on the Faust myth and also a probing examination of human values. Wilde himself described it as the story of "an idea that is old in the history of literature, but to which I have given new form." He was shocked and angered by the response to it by the English press, which considered the novel decadent, corrupting, and--worst of all--French-influenced.

Selected Reviews:

"He is not one of those writers who as the centuries change lose their relevance. Wilde is one of us. His wit is an agent of renewal as pertinent now as a hundred years ago."

--Richard Ellmann