French Literature Reviews - 2026

X. Giudicelli, Portraits de Dorian Gray. Le texte, le livre, l'image
Art and Visual Culture

Bibliographic reference: X. Giudicelli, Portraits de Dorian Gray. Le texte, le livre, l'image, Presses de l'université Paris-Sorbonne (PUPS), collection "Histoire de l'imprimé. Références", 2016. EAN13: 9791023105377.

Xavier Giudicelli, Portraits de Dorian Gray. Le texte, le livre, l'image

Paris: PUPS, 2016.

EAN 9791023105377

404 p.

Price: 36 EUR.

Abstract:

"This disturbing full-length portrait of a Dorian Gray will haunt [...]", wrote Stéphane Mallarmé to Oscar Wilde in April 1891. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde's only novel, tells the story of a portrait that pushes the boundaries of representation. The painting is woven into the text through allusion, or even absence. A torn canvas and an empty center around which the entire novel revolves, the portrait of Dorian Gray poses a challenge that many artists have sought to take up.

At the crossroads of literary studies, book history, and the arts, this book explores the metamorphoses of a text that has evolved into a modern myth with an extraordinary legacy. Analyzing these portraits of Dorian Gray also traces the evolving role of imagery within the book from the late 19^th century to the early 21^st century, ranging from 1920s bibliophile editions to contemporary graphic novels. Painting a portrait of Dorian Gray requires drawing upon aesthetic codes and models, thereby offering insight into the history of representation in the 20^th century—from Art Nouveau curves to expressionist films, and from high-society portraits to Bacon's anatomical studies.

Through the study of a case that is at once atypical and exemplary, Xavier Giudicelli reflects on the relationship woven between text and image within the book. Text and iconography combine to offer fresh perspectives on The Picture of Dorian Gray, grounding this critical inquiry in the very physical object that the book embodies.

The intersections between literature, visual arts and print history have long formed a fertile area of humanistic inquiry, particularly regarding works that engage directly with the status of representation. Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray occupies a singular place in late-Victorian aestheticism, offering a narrative framework where the painting functions as a central motif. Xavier Giudicelli situates the book at the crossroads of literary studies, book history, and the arts, exploring the metamorphoses of a text that has evolved into a modern myth with an extraordinary legacy from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century.

This volume investigates the relationship between text and image across various media, including bibliophile editions and contemporary graphic novels. Drawing on aesthetic models ranging from Art Nouveau to expressionist films and Bacon's anatomical studies, the study highlights how representations reflect the history of representation. Readers interested in the afterlife of Victorian fiction, book history, and the interrelations between literature and the visual arts may find this work relevant to their pursuits.