Halfway down this page from a draft of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde cut text from a scene between the painter Basil Hallward and Dorian. His edit mutes—momentarily—the homoerotic charge between artist and model. The words Wilde has crossed out are “And, as he leaned across to look at it, his hair just brushed my cheek (above: 'touched my hand'). The world becomes young to me when I hold his hand, as when I see him, the centuries yield up all their secrets!”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), manuscript draft of The Picture of Dorian Gray, ca. 1890. Purchased in 1913, MA 883.