Classically Yours: Reading 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' by Oscar Wilde

We're picking up the 1890 classic The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, for Classically Yours: PWG's Classic Books club.

Join us on Monday, July 27th 2026, at 8 pm, as we introduce the book and author and start our reading of the classic.

The first session is introductory, and we will read the book over the coming weeks, discussing it every week.

Link for the Session:
https://meet.google.com/tnt-fnkp-uhp

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ABOUT THE SESSION:

A classic is a book that is best explained as 'a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.' In 'Why Read the Classics?', Italo Calvino says, 'your classic author is the one you cannot feel indifferent to, who helps you define yourself in relation to him, even in dispute with him.'

So, if you read: why NOT the classics should be the question, not why. This initiative is for those patient folks who are willing to be engaged in dialogues with these sometimes daunting books. It is a load best shared, which is why this group has been created.

All are welcome, the only caveat being that you commit wholeheartedly. The group is designed for a small number people, small being the operative word here. Something will and does get diluted in large numbers, which we are looking to avoid. If you find one of our planned books not to be up your alley, you can just recuse yourself, and hopefully, we can meet up again later over another book that might catch your fancy.

THE BOOK:

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) is Wilde's only novel, the story of a beautiful young man who becomes entangled with a portrait that seems to hold a strange power over him. It's a dark, atmospheric meditation on beauty, vanity, and the price of a life devoted to pleasure.

THE AUTHOR:

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish poet, playwright, and wit of the late Victorian era, famous for his epigrams, his flamboyant public persona, and plays like The Importance of Being Earnest. His life took a tragic turn when he was imprisoned for "gross indecency" in 1895, and he died in Parisian exile just a few years later.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Shankar has been a lifelong reader and an aspiring writer, and is located currently in Pune.