Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.”
- Date
- 1891
- Local voice
- Authorial / signed preface voice · Oscar Wilde — Preface
Meaning of “There is no such thing as a moral…”
Wilde shifts judgment away from a book’s supposed moral category and toward artistic execution, a deliberately provocative defense of aesthetic criticism.
Where does it come from?
The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 edition, Preface; one of Wilde’s epigrams about art and books.
Why the local voice matters
This is one of Wilde’s signed Preface aphorisms to The Picture of Dorian Gray, not dialogue by Lord Henry or another fictional character.
