Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Canterville Ghost | TBD | Oscar Wilde | Buy |
| 2 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | TBD | Oscar Wilde | Buy |
| 3 | Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal | TBD | Oscar Wilde | Buy |
| 4 | The Portrait of Mr. W. H. | 1904 | Oscar Wilde | Buy |
The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel and the work that best captures his ideas about art, beauty, and corruption. Published in 1890, it follows a young man whose portrait ages and decays in his place while he remains physically unchanged. The premise is simple, but Wilde uses it to explore what happens when someone is freed from the visible consequences of their actions.
The Canterville Ghost is a comic novella about an American family who moves into a haunted English manor and refuses to be frightened by the ghost. Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal is an erotic novel attributed to Wilde, though its authorship is debated. The Portrait of Mr. W. H. is a fictional essay exploring the identity of the dedicatee of Shakespeare’s sonnets.