{"product_id":"2940016200736","title":"The Picture of Dorian Gray","description":"The novel tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian's beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new hedonism, Lord Henry suggests the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fullfilment of the senses. Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian (whimsically) expresses a desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than he. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, and when he subsequently pursues a life of debauchery, the portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into an other\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003emanner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003echarming. This is a fault.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003emean only beauty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBooks are well written, or badly written. That is all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eface in a glass.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose who read the symbol do so at their peril.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll art is quite useless.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOSCAR WILDE","brand":"New Dimension","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47101160095984,"sku":"2940016200736","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940016200736_p0.jpg?v=1763630563","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016200736","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}