Today’s post is a book review(ish) of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray is a pianist, and there are also lots of other reference to music throughout the book, including mentions of Wagner* and Chopin*. Word painting with music is not uncommon throughout the story.
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I’ve got a music-related art print* from The Picture of Dorian Gray up in the Fischarper Society6 shop*.
(I’m not sure the exact origin of the art prints, but Society6 said their products are “produced and shipped from multiple production facilities across the United States, Australia and Europe” that “follow all legal and ethical guidelines in regards to production, employment and waste management.”)
Rather purchase the file & print it yourself? Pick up the image file in the Fischarper Teachers Pay Teachers store!
If you purchase the art (digital or printed), be sure to snap a photo & share on social media so we can see how you display it!
I’m torn on my thoughts on the book. Once I got into the book, I wasn’t a fan — it’s dark and violent, and there’s some other stuff — but there’s also something intriguing about it. I do enjoy gothic literature (The Castle of Otrantro and The Mysteries of Udolpho are two of my favorites), but The Picture of Dorian Gray just seemed darker or something. I’m not sure if it was just somehow less ridiculous/more believable or what.
I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone younger than a mature audience — like mid to late twenties or older.
All that being said — and this might be part of what has me torn — the very end of the book (the last sentence or so) was really fascinating to me.
So, there’s my semi-review. Do you know of a piece of Gothic literature with music in it that I should check out? Be sure to drop it in the comments!
Want more book reviews? Head over to the books category for more!
-Barbara
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Original mockup by Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash.
Barbara Fischer runs Fischarper, LLC and loves her job as a harpist and private music educator. She enjoys blogging about various aspects of the music field on fischarper.com/blog. For more music resources, check out the Fischarper store. Find out where you can find Barbara on the interwebs here. And you can sign up to receive Fischarper updates by joining the email list.