As society’s reading habits change, with the adaption to digital literacy, a concern is arising that we are developing an intolerance to printed and extended bodies of text, generating a hunger for fast, electronic information. It appears now that the value of information is sometimes weighed by how quickly it can be sourced and accessed.



This set of three books focuses on the condensing down of the novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Wilde’s classic and beautiful work of fiction is presented in three stages; the reader having the option of how quickly and how in depth, they would like to experience the story.



Depending on which volume chosen, the reader may encounter a more fragmented, unpleasant and shallow sense of the novel; any unnecessary decoration and description having had been removed, revealing only the essential plot.The muted text in the series acts as a reminder of what narrative has been forfeited, but also helps emulate a common, ‘scattered’ sense of reading that is experienced when a reader tries to quickly locate essential information in a body of text.



Ultimately, this project is a reaction to the potential loss of beauty in reading and the ability to read deeply.