Dorian, an Imitation?

One of the most interesting features of postmodern literature is the interest manifested towards literary works already accepted as part of the literary canon, contemporary authors combining originality and ownership through different techniques, such as rewriting, recontextualization, adaptation and imitation. Will Self’s novel, entitled Dorian: An Imitation, published in 2002, is a contemporary version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the author himself describing it in the first interview with him about the novel as “an imitation - and a homage”, “a complete and professed rewrite of a classic” (McCrum 2002). Literary criticism of postmodern works makes a distinction between “rewriting” and “imitation”. In my approach, imitation always involves a distinct mode of perception, while rewriting implies an objective analysis followed by a certain creative wish to change some parts, to add a meaning or fill the “holes” of the text or to amplify the silent voices of the deep meanings. The aim of my research is to analyse and identify the textual practices from the conceptual perspectives of “rewriting” and “imitation”, regarding the particularities of these two novels.