Dorian, an Imitation

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Dorian, an Imitation
Dorbook.jpg
First edition
Author Will Self
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Viking Press
Publication date
26 September 2002
Media typePrint Hardcover & Paperback
Pages278 pp
ISBN 0-670-88996-2

Dorian, an Imitation is a British novel by Will Self. The book is a modern take on Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray . The novel was originally published by Viking Press in 2002 and subsequently by Penguin in 2003. Self was originally asked to adapt the 1890 Wilde novel into a film screenplay, but this project did not come to fruition. Instead, Self took this uncompleted screenplay and re-worked it into a novel, which he described as "an imitation - and a homage" to the Wilde original. [1]

Self draws correlations between the life of his character Dorian and Diana, Princess of Wales, particularly over the time period from June 1981, the time of the Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, up to 1997, the year of Princess Diana's death. [2] [3] The novel adheres closely to Wilde's original in its overall plot, with retaining the names of the key characters Dorian Gray, Henry Wootton, and Basil Hallward (with Hallward receiving the short nickname 'Baz'). [4] Updates in Self's novel compared to the Wilde original include the following:

See also

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Pact with the Devil, known in Canada as Dorian, is a 2004 Canadian-British drama film directed by Allan A. Goldstein and starring Ethan Erickson, Malcolm McDowell and Christoph Waltz. It is a modern retelling of the Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. It was filmed in 2002 in Canada.

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References

  1. 1 2 Robert McCrum (2002-09-29). "Self analysis". The Observer. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  2. Neil Bartlett (2002-09-21). "Picture of ill-health". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  3. Jonathan Heawood (2002-09-29). "The sincerest form". The Observer. Retrieved 2015-05-24.
  4. 1 2 Michiko Kakutani (2003-01-28). "Delighting in Ruination With AIDS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-24.