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The picture of Dorian Grey | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| chenshujian Diglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5458 days ago 122 posts - 139 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: French | Message 1 of 8 21 September 2013 at 6:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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To improve my reading speed, I am reading The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscard Wilde and almost finished it. And I love those witty and smart phrases of the author.
Does anyone also like this book? Hope we could share our feeling about his book. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Heriotza Groupie Dominican Republic Joined 4688 days ago 48 posts - 71 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 2 of 8 21 September 2013 at 3:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I love it. One of my favorite books. I have read it like twelve times. Reading Oscar Wilde is a pleasure.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4836 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 3 of 8 21 September 2013 at 8:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Wilde was one of "our" wittiest authors. I put "our" in quotes, because he was Irish,
not English, although he made his name in England. You might enjoy seeing or hearing audio versions of some of his plays, e.g. "The importance of being Ernest". There have been versions broadcast on the BBC from time to time, some of which may have made it to CD, or may be findable on the web. EDIT: If you haven't already checked, you might find an audiobook version of that on Librivox. If not, there may be some other Oscar Wilde stuff on there which you might enjoy. Edited by montmorency on 21 September 2013 at 8:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| chenshujian Diglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5458 days ago 122 posts - 139 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: French | Message 4 of 8 22 September 2013 at 1:59am | IP Logged | |||||
Did Wilde write the book in standard British English or with a little Irish style? Can I just imitate his many expressions in the book? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4836 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 5 of 8 22 September 2013 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, I think you can take it as the standard English of the time, stamped with his own unique style. Whether you'd call that Irish or not, I'm not sure. It might sound over-elaborate and exaggerated if you tried imitating it directly in speech. You might get away with it a little more in writing, depending on the context. I would not worry about it being "too Irish" though. I think it definitely counts as "English literature". This might be a minority view here, but personally, I think there is absolutely nothing wrong in immersing yourself in the classics of English literature, so long as you enjoy them. I think it will enrich your appreciation of English, probably contribute to your vocabulary, and help you to understand that there are many ways to write and speak English. You night possibly also enjoy some of the Anthony Trollope novels, and from an earlier period, I can recommend Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". Now I wouldn't recommend imitating that, but just read it for enjoyment. I'm probably not the best person to ask, but you should probably also balance your reading with some 20th and 21st century authors. I think you might enjoy for example E.M. Forster's "Room with a View", which was written quite a long time ago, but I don't think should sound too old fashioned in style (although it depicts a society very different from the modern one). Or more overtly funny: Kingsley Amis "Lucky Jim" (and others). Edited by montmorency on 22 September 2013 at 5:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4647 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 6 of 8 23 September 2013 at 9:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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I love British/Iris classical literature, and Wilde is one of my favourite writers. I have also read The Picture of Dorian Grey several times, I just find Wilde's way with words absolutely fantastic. It is so elegant and it really opens your eyes to the beauty of the English language.
I agree with montmorency that there is nothing wrong with reading the classics. In addition to literature from Wilde's time I am also a fan of the Gothic novels, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Great books written in a great language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4836 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 8 of 8 23 September 2013 at 11:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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oops! *blush*
The other common mistake is to refer to "The Portrait of...", which fortunately nobody here has made so far, but now I've sewn the seed, perhaps someone will...oops again. : I am not as wholly negative about Librivox as it Erenko, but it has to be said that the quality is variable. Reading well isn't as easy as it sounds, and especially not consistently over long periods. EDIT: it can also depend on the actual book. I found various free versions of "Die Verwandlung" (in English and German) online, and hated them. Then found a commercial version - and hated that. I later realised that - for my personal taste - it's just a horrible book, although I know a lot of people seem to think it is wonderful. Edited by montmorency on 24 September 2013 at 5:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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