as art is the rhythmical creation of beauty, and that the most poetical topic in the world is the death of a beautiful woman (see "The Philosophy of Composition"). Publication history "The Oval Portrait" was first published as a longer version titled "Life in Death" in Graham's Magazine in 1842. "Life in Death" included a few introductory paragraphs explaining how the narrator had been wounded, and that he had eaten opium to relieve the pain. Poe probably excised this introduction because it was not particularly relevant, and it also gave the impression that the story was nothing more than a hallucination. The shorter version, renamed "The Oval Portrait" was published in the April 26, 1845 edition of the Broadway Journal. Critical reception and impact The story inspired elements in the 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Five years before the novel's publication, Wilde had praised Poe's rhythmical expression. In Wilde's novel, the portrait gradually reveals the evil of its subject rather than that of its artist. A similar plot is also used in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1843 tale "The Birth-Mark". There are similar elements in "The Fall of the House of Usher", such as a painter, his lover/model in a remote setting and especially their obsessions about inanimate objects that are living (the house of Usher, the painting in Portrait). In 1928 a French film-maker, Jean Epstein, filmed La Chute de la Maison Usher which combined both stories. Artist Richard Corben combined them in his 2012 adaptation after adapting each on their own. Lance Tait's 2002 play The Oval Portrait is based on Poe's tale. Laura Grace Pattillo wrote in The Edgar Allan Poe Review (2006), References External links Full text on PoeStories.com with hyperlinked vocabulary words "Life in Death" version from Graham's Magazine, April 1842. 1842 short stories Gothic short stories Short stories adapted into films Short stories by Edgar Allan Poe Works set in castles Works originally published in Graham's Magazine