Background Information

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16th, 1854. He was a famous proponent of aestheticism, the controversial belief that art and literature had nothing to do with morality. (British Library) Wilde established himself as the leading aesthete in London, took to wearing outlandish costumes, worshipped sunflowers, and indulged the pleasures of being lampooned in Punch, a weekly satirical magazine. (Lawler 459)

In 1880, he published his first play, Vera, and began to write reviews and literary columns for the London quarterlies.

In 1886, he met Robert Ross, who later claimed to have introduced Wilde to homosexuality.

From 1887-1889, he was an editor of Woman's World, a literary magazine primarily geared towards middle and upper class educated women. After his editorship, he turned to short stories and critical essays. 

In 1890, The Picture of Dorian Gray  appeared in Lippincott's, creating debate in the press on the subject of art and morality. In rapid succession, Wilde published "The True Function and Value of Criticism" in two parts, later retitled "The Critic as Artist" when collected in Intentions (1891); "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" and "The Preface to Dorian Gray" in the Fortnightly Review (February and March 1891); the revised, bound version of The Picture of Dorian Gray (April 1891). (Lawler 459)

In March 1895, Wilde brought libel action against the Marquess of Queensbury, father of Wilde's lover, Lord Alfred Douglass, for defamation. The Marquess was acquitted and shortly after Wilde was arrested for acting on homosexual desires with Alfred Douglas.

At the Wilde trials of 1895, the opposing attorneys read aloud from “Dorian Gray,” calling it a “sodomitical book.” Thus, Wilde went to prison not because he loved young men but because he flaunted that love, and “Dorian Gray” became the chief exhibit of his shamelessness. (Ross)

Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science  was a 19th-century literary magazine that published a menagerie of novels, short stories, articles, and pieces of literary criticism. It was originally published by J.B. Lippincott of Philadelphia in 1868, and released monthly editions until 1915, when Lippincott's merged with Scribner's Magazine. Lippincott's worked with many popular authors of the time, most notably Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, and Willa Cather, author of My Ántonia. The most notable editor of the magazine was J.M. Stoddart, who worked with the magazine from its first publication until 1894 and edited Oscar Wilde's novel in 1890. (Wikipedia)

In 1889, Wilde submitted his handwritten manuscript to James Marshall (J.M.) Stoddart, editor of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. Stoddart believed that the text would have offended the sensibilities of his readership, for there were several instances of graphic homosexual content. Stoddart had told his employer, Craige Lippincott,“Rest assured that it will not go into the Magazine unless it is proper that it shall. In its present condition there are a number of things which an innocent woman would make an exception to. But I will go beyond this and make it acceptable to the most fastidious taste” (Frankel X). Approximately 5oo words were deleted from the manuscript in hopes to censor any homosexual implications. Before the text was printed, Stoddart assigned Wilde’s typescript to no fewer than five publishing professionals for comment—one of whom he later charged with “picking out any objectionable passages" (Frankel X). These additional changes were unbeknownst to Wilde until after Dorian Gray was published in 1890.