Discussion question – The Picture of Dorian Gray:

In the preface, Wilde claims that there is “no such thing as a moral or an immoral book,” and that an “ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.” Yet Dorian’s eventual ruin suggests a strong moral warning against the protagonist’s vanity and selfishness. Is Wilde breaking his own rules and exhibiting “an unpardonable mannerism of style”? Or is the book meant to be read amorally?