I read this book after reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and while reading the Shakespeare sonnets. In that context it was a fascinating read. Personally, I enjoyed it more than Dorian Gray which I found dragged in superflous detail and stressed me with hyped up suspense.

This story was definitely a prelude to Dorian. A way of Wilde working through some of his musings on Shakespeare, his lives, sexuality, and sonnets. He carries those ideas into Dorian Gray more subtlely but in this short story, which is almost a theoretical essay, he posits an opinion in the context of a thinly valed story.

I really enjoyed it.