Review: Dorian Unbound: Transnational Decadence and the Wilde Archive, by Sean O'Toole.

"Dorian Unbound: Transnational Decadence and the Wilde Archive" by Sean O'Toole is a book that explores the influences and contexts surrounding Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. O'Toole argues that understanding the novel requires a wider perspective that goes beyond traditional Anglo-French influences and fin-de-siècle periodization. The book examines various texts in Wilde's library, including Wilhelm Meinhold's Sidonia the Sorceress, Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer, and works by American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. O'Toole's research highlights the importance of considering form and genre in detecting unexpected influences and sheds light on the transnational and multigenre nature of the Decadent movement. [Extracted from the article]