The Censorship of “Dorian Gray”

When Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890, it was a substantially altered version of Wilde’s original text. Material considered scandalous for its day had been cut out. Nicholas Frankel (Virginia Commonwealth University) is the editor of a new edition that restores Oscar Wilde’s famous novel to its original form—a form that has never before been published. Frankel asserts that this is the version Wilde would have wanted us to read today. Also featured: During the Cold War era, screenwriters, playwrights, and actors who criticized American foreign policy were brought before hearings chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy and then often blacklisted. Andrew Falk (Christopher Newport University) says, though silenced back home, many of these artists had successful careers in Europe and became cultural ambassadors for the United States.