English Literature books summary

amenities are. He and Friday leave on the ship with the rest of their

little army.

Robinson arrives in England thirty-five years after he left it. He

finds the old Portuguese captain in Lisbon and is able to get in contact

with his old plantation partners. He finds he is very wealthy and

successful. He pays the Portuguese man and the widow who was his trustee

very well for all the kindness they have shown him. He sends his two

sisters in the English countryside some money. Crusoe thinks of going to

Brazil, but decides he could not bear the rule under the religion of

Catholicism. Thus he resolves to sell the plantation and settle in England.

To get to England from Portugal, Robinson decides not to sail but to go by

land. The journey is treacherous. They are almost attacked by wolves. The

guide becomes ill. At one point Friday must fight a bear. Happily enough,

they are successful and arrive unscathed in Dover. Robinson eventually

marries and has three children. When his wife dies, he takes a voyage with

his nephew to the East Indies. There he sees that his island is faring

well, the Spaniards having arrived at the behest of Friday's father and the

first Spaniard who landed on the isle. There are women and young children

as well as men. Crusoe looks in on the inhabitants of the island from time

to time. He is always on a voyage.

The Picture of Dorian Grey by O.Wilde

PREFACE

The artist creates beautiful things. Art aims to reveal art and

conceal the artist. The critic translates impressions from the art into

another medium. Criticism is a form of autobiography. People who look at

something beautiful and find an ugly meaning are "corrupt without being

charming." Cultivated people look at beautiful things and find beautiful

meanings. The elect are those who see only beauty in beautiful things.

Books can’t be moral or immoral; they are only well or badly written.

People of the nineteenth century who dislike realism are like Caliban

who is enraged at seeing his own face in the mirror. People of the

nineteenth century who dislike romanticism are like Caliban enraged at not

seeing himself in the mirror.

The subject matter of art is the moral life of people, but moral art

is art that is well formed. Artists don’t try to prove anything. Artists

don’t have ethical sympathies, which in an artist "is an unpardonable

mannerism of style." The subject matter of art can include things that are

morbid, because "the artist can express everything." The artist’s

instruments are thought and language.

Vice and virtue are the materials of art. In terms of form, music is

the epitome of all the arts. In terms of feeling, acting is the epitome of

the arts.

Art is both surface and symbol. People who try to go beneath the

surface and those who try to read the symbols "do so at their own peril."

Art imitates not life, but the spectator. When there is a diversity of

opinion about a work of art, the art is good. "When critics disagree the

artist is in accord with him[/her]self."

The value of art is not in its usefulness. Art is useless.

CHAPTER 1

In a richly decorated studio an artist, Basil Hallward talks with a

guest, Lord Henry Wotton about a new portrait he has standing out. Lord

Henry exclaims that it is the best of Hallward’s work and that he should

show it at Grosvenor. Hallward remarks that he doesn’t plan to show it at

all. Lord Henry can’t imagine why an artist wouldn’t want to show his work.

Hallward explains that he has put too much of himself in it to show it to

the public. Lord Henry can’t understand this since Hallward isn’t a

beautiful man while the subject of the portrait is extraordinarily

beautiful. As he is explaining himself, he mentions the subject’s name--

Dorian Gray. He regrets having slipped, saying that when he likes people,

he never tells their names because it feels to him as if he’s giving them

away to strangers.

Lord Henry compares this idea to his marriage, saying that "the one

charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary

for both parties." He adds that he and his wife never know where the other

is and that she’s always a better liar than he is, but that she just laughs

at him when he slips. Basil Hallward is impatient with Lord Henry for this

revelation, accusing Lord Henry of posing. He adds that Lord Henry never

says anything moral and never does anything immoral. Lord Henry tells him

that being natural is the worst of the poses.

Hallward returns to the idea of the portrait. He explains that "every

portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not the

sitter." The sitter only occasions the production of the art. The painter

is revealed, not the sitter. He won’t, therefore, show the secret of his

soul to the public.

He tells the story of how he met Dorian Gray. He went to a "crush" put

on by Lady Brandon. While he was walking around the room, he saw Dorian

Gray, "someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed

it to do so, it would absorb by whole nature, my whole soul, my very art

itself." He was afraid of such an influence, so he avoided meeting the man

he saw. He tried to leave and Lady Brandon caught him and took him around

the room introducing him to her guests. He had recently shown a piece that

created a sensation, so his cultural capital was quite high at the time.

After numerous introductions, he came upon Dorian Gray.

Lady Brandon says she didn’t know what Mr. Gray did, perhaps nothing,

perhaps he played the piano or the violin. The two men laughed at her and

became friends with each other at once.

He tells Lord Henry that soon he painted Dorian Gray’s portrait. Now,

Dorian Gray is all of Hallward’s art. He explains that in art, there are

two epochal events possible: one is the introduction of a new medium for

art, like the oil painting, the second is the appearance of a new

personality for art. Dorian Gray is the latter.

Even when he’s not painting Dorian Gray, he is influenced by him to

paint extraordinarily different creations. It is like a new school of art

emerging. Dorian Gray is his motive in art.

As he is explaining the art, he mentions that he has never told Dorian

Gray how important he is. He won’t show his Dorian Gray- inspired art

because he fears that the public would recognize his bared soul. Lord Henry

notes that bared souls are quite popular these days in fiction. Hallward

hates this trend, saying that the artist should create beautiful things,

and should put nothing of his own life into them. Dorian Gray is often

quite charming to Basil, but sometimes he seems to take delight in hurting

Basil. Basil feels at such moments that he has given his soul to someone

shallow and cruel enough to treat it as a flower to ornament his lapel.

Lord Henry predicts that Basil will tire of Dorian sooner than Dorian will

tire of him. Basil refuses to believe this. He says as long as he lives,

Dorian Gray will dominate his life.

Lord Henry suddenly remembers that he has heard Dorian Gray’s name.

His aunt, Lady Agatha, has mentioned him in relation to some philanthropic

work she does, saying he was going to help her in the East End. Suddenly,

Dorian Gray is announced. Basil Hallward asks his servant to have Mr. Gray

wait a moment. He tells Lord Henry not to exert any influence on Dorian

Gray because he depends completely on Dorian remaining uncorrupted. Lord

Henry scoffs at the idea as nonsense.

CHAPTER 2

When they walk from the studio into the house, they see Dorian Gray at

the piano. He tells Basil that he’s tired of sitting for his portrait. Then

he sees Lord Henry and is embarrassed. Basil tries to get Lord Henry to

leave, but Dorian asks him to stay and talk to him while he sits for the

portrait. He adds that Basil never talks or listens as he paints. Lord

Henry agrees to stay.

They discuss Dorian’s work in philanthropy. Lord Henry thinks he’s too

charming to do that kind of thing. Dorian wonders if Lord Henry will be a

bad influence on him as Basil thinks he will be.

Lord Henry thinks all influence is corrupting since the person

influenced no longer thinks with her or his own thoughts. He thinks the

"aim of life is self development." He doesn’t like philanthropy because it

makes people neglect themselves. They clothe poor people and let their own

souls starve. Only fear governs society, according to Lord Henry. Terror of

God is the secret of religion and terror of society is the basis of morals.

If people would live their lives fully, giving form to every feeling and

expression to every thought, the world would be enlivened by a fresh

impulse of joy. He urges Dorian not to run from his youthful fears.

Dorian becomes upset and asks him to stop talking so he can deal with

all that he has said. He stands still for ten minutes. He realizes he is

being influenced strongly. He suddenly understands things he has always

wondered about. Lord Henry watches him fascinated.

He remembers when he was sixteen he read a book and was immensely

influenced. He wonders if Dorian Gray is being influenced that way by his

random words. Hallward paints furiously. Dorian asks for a break. Basil

apologizes for making him stand so long. He is excited about the portrait

he’s painting, and praises Dorian for standing so perfectly still as to let

him get at the effect he had wanted. He says he hasn’t heard the

conversation, but he hopes Dorian won’t listen to anything Lord Henry tells

him.

Lord Henry and Dorian go out into the garden while Basil works on the

background of the portrait in the studio. Dorian buries his face in a

flower. Lord Henry tells him he is doing just as he should since the senses

are the only way to cure the soul. They begin to stroll and Dorian Gray

clearly looks upset. He’s afraid of Lord Henry’s influence. Lord Henry

urges him to come and sit in the shade to avoid getting a sunburn and

ruining his beauty. Dorian wonders why it’s important. Lord Henry tells him

it matters more than anything else since his youth is his greatest gift and

that it will leave him soon. As they sit down, he implores Dorian to enjoy

his youth while he can. He shouldn’t give his life to the "ignorant, the

common, and the vulgar." He thinks the age needs a new Hedonism (pursuit of

pleasure as the greatest goal in life). Dorian Gray could be its visible

symbol.

Dorian Gray listens intently. Suddenly, Basil comes out to get them.

He says he’s ready to resume the portrait. Inside, Lord Henry sits down and

watches Basil paint. After only a quarter of an hour, Basil says the

painting is complete. Lord Henry proclaims it his finest work and offers to

buy it. Basil says it’s Dorian’s painting.

When Dorian looks at it, he realizes he is beautiful as Lord Henry

has been telling him. He hadn’t taken it seriously before. Now he knows

what Lord Henry has meant by youth being so short-lived. He realizes the

painting will always be beautiful and he will not. He wishes it were

reversed. He accuses Basil of liking his art works better than his friends.

Basil is shocked at this change in Dorian. He tells him his friendship

means more to him than anything. Dorian is so upset that he says he’ll kill

himself the moment he realizes he’s growing old. Basil turns to Lord Henry

and says it’s his fault. Then he realizes he is arguing with his two best

friends and says he’ll destroy the painting to stop the argument. Dorian

pulls the knife away from him to stop him. He tells Basil he’s in love with

the portrait and thinks of it as part of himself.

The butler brings tea and the men sit down to drink it. Lord Henry

proposes they go to the theater that night. Basil refuses the invitation,

but Dorian agrees to go. When they get up to go, Basil asks Lord Henry to

remember what he asked him in the studio before they went in to see Dorian.

Lord Henry shrugs and says he doesn’t even trust himself, so Basil

shouldn’t try to trust him.

CHAPTER 3

It is 12:30 in the afternoon and Lord Henry Wotton is walking to his

uncle’s house. Lord Fermor had in his youth been secretary to his father,

an ambassador to Madrid. When his father didn’t get the ambassadorship of

Paris, he quit in a huff and Lord Fermor quit with him. From them on Lord

Fermor had spent his life devoted "to the serious study of the great

aristocratic art of doing absolutely nothing." He pays some attention to

the coal mines in the Midland counties, "excusing himself from the taint of

industry on the ground that the one advantage of having coal was that I

enabled a gentleman to afford the decency of burning wood on his own

hearth."

Lord Henry is visiting him to find out what he knows about Dorian

Gray’s parents. He doesn’t belong to the Bluebooks (the lists of English

nobles), but he is Kelso’s grandson and his mother was Lady Margaret

Devereux, an extraordinary beauty of her day. She married a penniless man

and upset everyone in the process. Her husband died soon afterwards, killed

in a duel set up by her father. She was pregnant. In childbirth, she died,

leaving Dorian to grow up with his ruthless grandfather.

Lord Henry leaves from his uncle’s and goes to his aunt’s house for

lunch. He becomes engrossed in his thoughts about Dorian Gray’s background.

He decides he will dominate Dorian just as Dorian dominates Basil Hallward.

When he gets to his aunt’s he is happy to see Dorian is at the table. He

begins to regale his aunt’s guests with his hedonistic philosophy of life.

He scorns the motives of philanthropy, which his aunt and most of her

guests espouse, and carries on about the joys of the pursuit of pleasure

for its own sake. He is pleased to see that Dorian is fascinated by his

speech. All of his aunt’s guests are, in fact, and he receives several

invitations.

When lunch is over, he says he will go to the park for a stroll.

Dorian asks to come along and begs him to keep talking. Lord Henry says he

is finished talking and now he just wants to be and enjoy. Dorian wants to

come anyway. Lord Henry reminds him he has an appointment with Basil

Hallward. Dorian doesn’t mind breaking it.

CHAPTER 4

One month later, Dorian Gray is waiting at Lord Henry’s for him to

come home. He is impatient since he’s been waiting for a while. Lord

Henry’s wife comes in and they chat for a while about music. She notices

that he parrots her husband’s views, as many people in her social circle

do. Lord Henry arrives and his wife leaves. After Henry advises him not to

marry, Dorian says he is too much in love to consider marriage. He is in

love with an actress. He thinks of her as a genius. Lord Henry explains

that women can’t be geniuses because they are made only for decoration. He

adds that there are only two kinds of women, the plain and the colored.

Plain women are useful for respectability and colored women are useful for

charming men. Dorian claims to be terrified by Lord Henry’s views. Lord

Henry pushes him to tell more about the actress.

Dorian says that for days after he met Lord Henry, he felt alive with

excitement and wanted to explore the world intensely. He walked the streets

staring into the faces of people to see into their lives. He decided one

night to go out and have an adventure. He was walking along the street and

was hailed to come into a second rate theater. Despite his repulsion for

the caller, he went in and bought a box seat. The play was Romeo and

Juliet. He hated all of it until Juliet came on stage and then he was

entranced. Since that night he has gone every night to the theater. He met

her on the third night and found her exquisitely innocent, knowing nothing

at all of life but art.

He wants Lord Henry and Basil Hallward to come to see her the next

evening. His plan is to pay her manager off and set her up in a good

theater. Lord Henry invites him to dinner that evening, but he refuses,

saying he has to see her perform Imogen. He leaves.

Lord Henry thinks about what he’s learned. He thinks of Dorian Gray as

a good study. He likes to study people like a scientist studies the results

of an experiment. He thinks of Dorian as being his own creation. He had

introduced his ideas to Dorian and made him a self-conscious man.

Literature often did that to people, but a strong personality like his

could do it as well. As he thinks over his thoughts, he’s interrupted by

his servant reminding him it’s time to dress for dinner. As he arrives home

that night, he finds a telegram on the hall table announcing that Dorian

Gray was to marry Sibyl Vane.

CHAPTER 5

Sibyl Vane is exclaiming to her mother about how much in love she is

with her Prince Charming, as she calls Dorian Gray, not knowing yet what

his name is. Her mother warns her that she must keep her focus on acting

since they owe Mr. Isaacs fifty pounds. Sibyl is impatient with her mother

and tries to get her mother to remember when she was young and in love with

Sibyl’s father. Her mother looks pained and Sibyl apologizes for bringing

up a painful subject.

Her brother Jim comes in. It’s his last night on shore. He is booked

as a sailor on a ship headed for Australia. When Sibyl leaves the room, he

asks his mother about the gentleman he has heard has been coming to the

theater to see Sibyl every night. His mother tells him the man is wealthy

and it might be a good thing for Sibyl. Jim is not convinced.

When Sibyl comes back, she and Jim go for a walk in the park together.

While there, Jim questions her about the man who has been calling on her.

She only says how much she is in love with the man and how she is sure he’s

trustworthy. Jim says that if he comes back and finds that the man has hurt

her, he’ll kill the man. They walk on and return home after a while.

Alone again with his mother, Jim asks her if she was married to his

father. She has been feeling like he has been on the verge of asking this

question for weeks. She is relieved to get it out in the open. She says she

was never married to the man. He was married, but loved her very much. He

would have provided for her and her family, but died. Jim tells her to keep

the gentleman away from Sibyl. She tells him that he need not worry because

Sibyl has a mother, but she herself didn’t. He is touched by her sincerity

and they embrace. Soon, though, he has to get ready to leave for his ship.

Mrs. Vane thinks about his threat to kill Sibyl’s Prince Charming, but

thinks nothing will ever come of it.

CHAPTER 6

Lord Henry greets Basil Hallward as he arrives at the Bristol for

dinner. He tells him the news about Dorian’s engagement to Sibyl Vane.

Basil is surprised and can’t believe it’s true. He can’t believe Dorian

would do something as foolish as to marry an actress in light of his

"birth, and position, and wealth." Lord Henry acts nonchalant about the

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