Oscar Wilde
Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray published
Over 120 years after it was condemned as 'vulgar' and 'unclean', an uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is published by Harvard University Press
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Revised after it was condemned in the British press over 130 years ago as "vulgar", "unclean", "poisonous" and "discreditable", an uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray has finally been published.
Deciding that the novel as it stood contained "a number of things which an innocent woman would make an exception to", and assuring his employer Craige Lippincott that he would make the book "acceptable to the most fastidious taste", Stoddart also removed references to Gray's female lovers as his "mistresses". He went on to cut "many passages that smacked of decadence more generally," said Nicholas Frankel, editor of the new edition, for Harvard University Press.Wilde's editor JM Stoddart had already deleted a host of "objectionable" text from the novel before it made its first appearance in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in June 1890, cutting out material which made more explicit the homoerotic nature of artist Basil Hallward's feelings for Dorian Gray and which accentuated elements of homosexuality in Gray himself.
The public outcry which followed the novel's appearance – "it is a tale spawned from the leprous literature of the French Decadents – a poisonous book, the atmosphere of which is heavy with the mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction," wrote the Daily Chronicle – forced Wilde to revise the novel still further before it appeared in book form in 1891.
"It is quite true I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a friend. Somehow I have never loved a woman," Hallward tells Dorian, in one passage which was changed. The censored version read: "From the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me".
Frankel, associate professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University said "the time is ripe for the publication of Wilde's novel in its uncensored form … It is the version of the novel that Wilde, I believe, would want us to be reading in the 21st century … I'm bringing it out of the closet a little more."
Harvard University Press said the differences between Wilde's original text and the published version of the novel "have until now been evident to only the handful of scholars who have examined Wilde's typescript".
Among other restored passages, Hallward describes the feelings which had driven his portrait of Gray. "There was love in every line, and in every touch there was passion". Another restored line describes Gray walking the street at night; "A man with curious eyes had suddenly peered into his face, and then dogged him with stealthy footsteps, passing and repassing him many times." Gray also reflects on Hallward's feelings for him. "There was something infinitely tragic in a romance that was at once so passionate and sterile".
In another instance, the question; "Is Sybil Vane your mistress ?" was altered to "What are your relations with Sibyl Vane ?" – one of three references to Gray's "mistresses" that were cut by the editor.
But critics and academics in the US have not been universal in their praise of the uncensored version. Reviewing the new edition, author and columnist Brooke Allen wrote on the Barnes and Noble website that "whether the original text is actually 'better' than the book version published in 1891 is a moot point".
"Some of Wilde's original material may have been lost in the latter … but much was gained, too," she wrote. "This annotated version, though a treasure for scholars and for anyone with a serious interest in Wilde, the 1890s, and Aestheticism, should serve as a supplement to the standard text rather than a replacement."
Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray published
Over 120 years after it was condemned as 'vulgar' and 'unclean', an uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is published by Harvard University Press
'
Revised after it was condemned in the British press over 130 years ago as "vulgar", "unclean", "poisonous" and "discreditable", an uncensored version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray has finally been published.
Deciding that the novel as it stood contained "a number of things which an innocent woman would make an exception to", and assuring his employer Craige Lippincott that he would make the book "acceptable to the most fastidious taste", Stoddart also removed references to Gray's female lovers as his "mistresses". He went on to cut "many passages that smacked of decadence more generally," said Nicholas Frankel, editor of the new edition, for Harvard University Press.Wilde's editor JM Stoddart had already deleted a host of "objectionable" text from the novel before it made its first appearance in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in June 1890, cutting out material which made more explicit the homoerotic nature of artist Basil Hallward's feelings for Dorian Gray and which accentuated elements of homosexuality in Gray himself.
The public outcry which followed the novel's appearance – "it is a tale spawned from the leprous literature of the French Decadents – a poisonous book, the atmosphere of which is heavy with the mephitic odours of moral and spiritual putrefaction," wrote the Daily Chronicle – forced Wilde to revise the novel still further before it appeared in book form in 1891.
"It is quite true I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a friend. Somehow I have never loved a woman," Hallward tells Dorian, in one passage which was changed. The censored version read: "From the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me".
Frankel, associate professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University said "the time is ripe for the publication of Wilde's novel in its uncensored form … It is the version of the novel that Wilde, I believe, would want us to be reading in the 21st century … I'm bringing it out of the closet a little more."
Harvard University Press said the differences between Wilde's original text and the published version of the novel "have until now been evident to only the handful of scholars who have examined Wilde's typescript".
Among other restored passages, Hallward describes the feelings which had driven his portrait of Gray. "There was love in every line, and in every touch there was passion". Another restored line describes Gray walking the street at night; "A man with curious eyes had suddenly peered into his face, and then dogged him with stealthy footsteps, passing and repassing him many times." Gray also reflects on Hallward's feelings for him. "There was something infinitely tragic in a romance that was at once so passionate and sterile".
In another instance, the question; "Is Sybil Vane your mistress ?" was altered to "What are your relations with Sibyl Vane ?" – one of three references to Gray's "mistresses" that were cut by the editor.
But critics and academics in the US have not been universal in their praise of the uncensored version. Reviewing the new edition, author and columnist Brooke Allen wrote on the Barnes and Noble website that "whether the original text is actually 'better' than the book version published in 1891 is a moot point".
"Some of Wilde's original material may have been lost in the latter … but much was gained, too," she wrote. "This annotated version, though a treasure for scholars and for anyone with a serious interest in Wilde, the 1890s, and Aestheticism, should serve as a supplement to the standard text rather than a replacement."
"Le portrait de Dorian Gray", version non censurée
Les presses universitaires d'Harvard viennent de publier la version originale - et sexuellement explicite - du roman d'Oscar Wilde.
Oscar Wilde était-il naïf, inconscient, provocateur ? Il n'y avait à l'évidence aucune chance que la revue londonienne à laquelle il adressa, en 1890, son premier Portrait de Dorian Gray ne le publie. Trop explicite quant à la sexualité des personnages, trop évidemment décadentiste, le texte subit une première censure acérée avant d'apparaître dans les pages du Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Les coups de ciseaux ne le préservent cependant pas des coups de griffe : la critique de l'époque voue le roman aux gémonies. Pour la seconde édition, indépendante, de 1891, Oscar Wilde reprend une nouvelle fois son texte en l'accompagnant d'une préface, où il affirme, pour sa défense, la nécessité de dissocier l'esthétique des principes moraux.
Douze décennies plus tard, les presses universitaires d'Harvard publient le tapuscrit original d'Oscar Wilde : un Portrait non censuré dont le professeur Nicholas Frankel, directeur de l'édition, affirme qu'il est celui que l'auteur "aurait voulu que nous lisions". La sexualité des personnages et l'homoérotisme y sont, il est vrai, autrement plus explicites : Dorian y a des "maîtresses", et le peintre Basile Hallward lui déclare son amour en termes non équivoques. "It is quite true I have worshipped you with far more romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a friend. Somehow I have never loved a woman", dit-il ainsi au jeune dandy ("Il est vrai que je t'ai adoré bien au-delà de ce qu'un homme devrait ressentir pour un ami. D'une certaine façon, je n'ai jamais aimé une femme"). Un passage devenu, en 1891 : "From the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me" ("Dès l'instant où je t'ai rencontré, ton caractère a eu sur moi l'influence la plus extraordinaire").
Vérité
Dans le texte de 1891 - auquel Oscar Wilde ajoute également des chapitres et des développements d'intrigue - la nature sexuelle ou amoureuse des relations entre les personnages reste cependant évidente. "Très vite on a cherché, dans le texte de Wilde, des preuves ou des symptômes de son désir homosexuel, rappelle Pascal Aquien, directeur de la revue Études anglaises et spécialiste de l'écrivain. C'est d'ailleurs ce qui s'est passé au moment de son procès, où des passages du Portrait ont été cités comme preuve de sa perversion". Non que, dans l'Angleterre corsetée de l'époque victorienne, les textes sexuellement explicites n'existent pas. Mais ils circulent alors sous le manteau. "Ce qui est exceptionnel de la part d'Oscar Wilde, c'est d'avoir envoyé cette première version à un éditeur aussi influent que Stoddard, le directeur du Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, explique le chercheur. Il s'apprête alors à publier Sherlock Holmes, et a pignon sur rue."
Le geste est certes remarquable. Faut-il pour autant, comme le font les éditions d'Harvard, faire de ce premier état du texte une "vérité" du Portrait ? "Qu'il soit plus explicite ne signifie pas qu'il soit plus intéressant, estime Pascal Aquien. S'il n'avait pas été persuadé de la qualité du roman, Wilde ne l'aurait certainement pas publié. Imagine-t-on Manet céder aux critiques et couvrir la femme nue duDéjeuner sur l'herbe ?" Plus intéressant que le texte est alors, peut-être, le fait même de le diffuser aujourd'hui. Une décision qui s'inscrit, rappelle Pascal Aquien, dans le contexte d'un développement important des gay studies, et d'une politique éditoriale qui vise à rétablir, sur la question, la vérité des faits". D'autant que ce n'est que très tardivement, dans les années soixante, qu'Oscar Wilde, encore imprégné de sa sulfureuse réputation et des vapeurs méphitiques de son procès, a commencé à être pris au sérieux par la critique. On remarquera qu'il aura fallu tout de même attendre 2011 pour que le premier Portrait sorte du cercle des chercheurs.
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