Book description
Dorian - Will Self's brilliant 'imitation' of Oscar Wilde's
original tainted love story
'Brutal, savage, infinitely readable' Observer
'Chilling, hysterical, tasteless and haunting. A Gothic thriller
complementing and enriching its original' Independent on Sunday
In the summer of 1981, aristocratic, drug-addicted Henry Wooten and
Warhol-acolyte Baz Hallward meet Dorian Gray. Dorian is a golden
adonis - perfect, pure and (so far) deliciously uncorrupted. The
subject of Baz's video installation, Cathode Narcissus, and the object
of Henry's attentions, Dorian is launched on a hedonistic binge that
spans the '80s and '90s. But as Baz and Henry succumb to the disease
du jour, how is it that Dorian, despite all his sexual and narcotic
debauchery, remains so unsullied - so vibrantly alive?
'A book that filled its first reviewers with "the odour of
moral and spiritual putrefaction" just got smellier, darker and
funnier' Observer
Dorian will be adored by fans of Will Self and Martin Amis
and is an essential read for those who enjoyed The Picture of
Dorian Gray.
Will Self is the author of nine novels including Cock and
Bull; My Idea of Fun; Great Apes; How the Dead Live; Dorian, an
Imitation; The Book of Dave; The Butt; Walking to Hollywood and
Umbrella, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He
has written five collections of shorter fiction and three novellas:
The Quantity Theory of Insanity; Grey Area; License to Hug; The
Sweet Smell of Psychosis; Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo;
Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys; Dr. Mukti and Other Tales
of Woe and Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of
Four Lobes. Self has also compiled a number of nonfiction works,
including The Undivided Self: Selected Stories; Junk Mail;
Perfidious Man; Sore Sites; Feeding Frenzy; Psychogeography; Psycho
Too and The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker.
Will Self has published three short story collections and three
novels, all of which are in Penguin. His most recent novel HOW THE DEAD
LIVE was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Fiction prize, and DORIAN
was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2002. Self is also a big media
figure, with a regular BBC Radio 4 slot and a starring role in SHOOTING
STARS on BBC2. He lives in Stockwell, South London
