Reading Groups

Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray with Ana Klimchynskaya

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2 Sessions Mondays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT September 8 to September 29, 2025

Online via Zoom

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The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
9/8 & 9/29
Online via Zoom

Over the past several years, we have seen a rise in censorship and book banning across the United States, premised on the idea that particular works of fiction are immoral—that they might propagate and inculcate “bad” ideas and behaviors. This is not dissimilar from the context in which Oscar Wilde wrote his famous only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, whose preface adamantly states, “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. A book is well written, or badly written. That is all.” A sort of manifesto of the Art for Art’s Sake movement, whose central idea was that art should be beautiful rather than moral, The Picture of Dorian Gray is an examination of how far that credo might be stretched.

At the same time, the novel itself is marked by a history of censorship, with successive versions—the manuscript, the 1890 magazine publication, and the extended 1891 book—subjected to both external and self-censorship, particularly in relation to sexual and homoerotic subjects. In this reading group, we will make our way through these versions of the novel while asking what they might teach us about art and censorship in our own day. Is there such a thing as an immoral book? What does art for art’s sake really mean—and what is art, anyway? Are there circumstances under which texts should be censored?

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Chapters 1-10 of The Picture of Dorian Gray 1891 edition. During the first class we will cross-reference it with the uncensored version.

What to expect from this reading group: A combination of discussion and lecture, guided in part by the interests and questions of the participants

Reading List:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Ana Klimchynskaya

Ana Klimchynskaya

Dr. Anastasia Klimchynskaya is a scholar of nineteenth-century literature with a deep interest in the intersections between science, technology, literature, and the cultural imagination. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University, where she teaches primarily Victorian literature, Gothic, and science fiction.

About this series

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