Forbidden love: the original Dorian Gray revealed, direct from Oscar Wilde’s pen

Published for the first time, the handwritten manuscript of the 1891 novel shows a writer struggling with Victorian morality

A new edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray, featuring handwritten notation from Oscar Wilde, reveals the extent to which the writer grappled with how much homoerotic content he should include in his novel.

It is the first time the original manuscript in Wilde’s own writing has been published and demonstrates how he self-censored some of the most romantic paragraphs. He tones down the more overt references to the homoerotic nature of Basil Hallward’s relationship with Dorian, crossing out his confession that “the world becomes young to me when I hold his hand”.

Wilde's purpose was to break out of what Lady Bracknell called the ‘three-volume novel of more than usually revolting sentimentality'

Related: Likely identity of Oscar Wilde’s American sweetheart ‘Hattie’ uncovered

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