Oscar Wilde
I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's only novel, when I was in university and quite enamoured with someone who very much brought to mind the protagonist of this story.
But that was many moons ago now. I remember having difficulty imagining how or why this book was considered so salacious when it was first published. There are only vague hints of ambiguous allusions of faint whispers of anything even mildly indecorous. Those Victorians sensibilities were so easily aggrieved; I doubt I would do very well with such prudish bunch!
I've actually read Irish author Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes much more recently. What a depressing story! So depressing, in fact, that it's disheartening to think that it's a memoir, with real suffering characters, rather than a work of fiction. For my reading the world project, I'd like to focus on fiction where possible, a rule that Ann Morgan had to bend a few times when nothing else was available. Given Ireland's long literary history, I'll stick with uni-times backtracking to The Picture of Dorian Gray for the time being.
But that was many moons ago now. I remember having difficulty imagining how or why this book was considered so salacious when it was first published. There are only vague hints of ambiguous allusions of faint whispers of anything even mildly indecorous. Those Victorians sensibilities were so easily aggrieved; I doubt I would do very well with such prudish bunch!
I've actually read Irish author Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes much more recently. What a depressing story! So depressing, in fact, that it's disheartening to think that it's a memoir, with real suffering characters, rather than a work of fiction. For my reading the world project, I'd like to focus on fiction where possible, a rule that Ann Morgan had to bend a few times when nothing else was available. Given Ireland's long literary history, I'll stick with uni-times backtracking to The Picture of Dorian Gray for the time being.
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