En su unica novela, el divino Oscar Wilde puso al dia el mito de Fausto. En este caso, la victima es Dorian Gray, un bello y joven presuntuoso a quien un amigo hace un retrato al oleo. Cuando Dorian trabe amistad con lord Henry Wotton, un cinico filosofo, este le convencera de que sus mas valiosas posesiones son su belleza y su juventud. Y a partir de ahi, su deseo de que su retrato envejezca mientras el permanezca joven se hace realidad. Estamos, simple y llanamente, ante uno de los libros mas bellos e ingeniosos de todos los tiempos. Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist who is impressed and infatuated by Dorian's beauty; he believes that Dorian's beauty is responsible for the new mode in his art as a painter. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, and he soon is enthralled by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only things worth pursuing in life. Understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied and amoral experiences; all the while his portrait ages and records every soul-corrupting sin."