" Perhaps; but "we artists" do not always hit what
we aim at, and, despite his confident claim to unerring artistic
marksmanship, one must hazard the opinion, that in this case Mr. WILDE
has "shot wide." There is indeed more of "poison" than of "perfection"
in _Dorian Gray_. The central idea is an excellent, if not exactly
novel, one; and a finer art, say that of NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE, would
have made a striking and satisfying story of it. _Dorian Gray_ is
striking enough, in a sense, but it is not "satisfying" artistically,
any more than it is so ethically. Mr. WILDE has preferred the sensuous
and hyperdecorative manner of "Mademoiselle DE MAUPIN," and without
GAUTIER'S power, has spoilt a promising conception by clumsy unideal
treatment. His "decoration" (upon which he plumes himself) is indeed
"laid on with a trowel." The luxuriously elaborate details of his
"artistic hedonism" are too suggestive of South Kensington Museum
and aesthetic Encyclopaedias. A truer art would have avoided both the
glittering conceits, which bedeck the body of the story, and the
unsavoury suggestiveness which lurks in its spirit. Poisonous! Yes.
But the loathly "leperous distilment" taints and spoils, without
in any way subserving "perfection," artistic or otherwise. If _Mrs.
Grundy_ doesn't read it, the younger _Grundies_ do; that is, the
_Grundies_ who belong to Clubs, and who care to shine in certain
sets wherein this story will be much discussed. "I have read it, and,
except for the ingenious idea, I wish to forget it," says the Baron.
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