Wilde\047s only novel, first published in 1890, is a brilliantly designed puzzle, intended to tease conventional minds with its exploration of the myriad interrelationships between art, life, and consequence. From its provocative Preface, challenging the reader to believe in \047art for art\047s sake\047, to its sensational conclusion, the story self-consciously experiments with the notion of sin as an element of design.\012\012Yet Wilde himself underestimated the consequences of his experiment, and its capacity to outrage the Victorian establishment. Its words returned to haunt him in his court appearances in 1895, and he later recalled the \047note of doom\047 which runs like \047a purple thread\047 through its carefully crafted prose.