January 30, 2009
Ordinary Ugliness
The hidden cost of the credit crunch
In Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the body of Dorian Gray remains smooth and young while his portrait ages and decays. It is only at the end of the story that Dorian's many sins become written on his now aged and deformed body, and his portrait reverts to an image of youth and beauty.
We Americans, by erasing all signs of aging and excess from our bodies with cosmetic surgery, are Dorian Gray. We engage in gluttony, then
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