How many words are in The Picture of Dorian Gray?
by Oscar Wilde · 1890 · Literary Fiction
78,462
Word count
5 hr 30 min
Reading time
314
Est. pages
1890
Published
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is approximately 78,462 wordslong. At an average reading speed of 238 words per minute, that's about 5 hr 30 min of reading spread across several sittings. First published in 1890, it sits in the Literary Fiction category.
Typical literary fiction novels run 70,000–100,000 words, with a sweet spot around 80,000–90,000. At 78,462 words, The Picture of Dorian Gray sits comfortably within the standard range for the genre.
Source: Word count from Project Gutenberg plain text edition (public domain) · referenceVerified 2026-06-19
Literary Fiction novels of similar length
| Title | Author | Word count |
|---|---|---|
| The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger | 73,404 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 100,388 |
| Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | 107,945 |
| Beloved | Toni Morrison | 109,211 |
| The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 109,571 |
| The Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 47,094 |