Self revives Wilde’s classic creation, the pseudo-tragic figure of Henry Wotton. In Dorian, Will Self transplants Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray to Thatcher’s Britain, following a group of rich, drug-addicted and promiscuous Londoners as their decadent lifestyle leads them into ruin. Exquisite Corpse was, I believe, a transgressive act of literary provocation engineered by Brite herself. Whilst both books should be celebrated and praised as artistic successes, it is Brite’s novel which is truly the more shocking work, by turning the author herself into the Other. Two recent Gothic novels have successfully exposed our cynical attitude towards love relations and our fear of getting too close to the Other: Dorian by Will Self and Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. In recent times it has become commonplace for writers and critics alike to link contemporary gothic narratives with modern day anxieties.
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