The Importance of Being Earnest

Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” Wilde’s play is a brilliantly satirical comedy of manners, sending up the absurdity of Victorian social mores and cleverly critiquing the conventions of love and marriage. The tale of two gentlemen who adopt fictitious identities in order to woo the objects of their affections is Wilde’s most beloved work, considered to be one of the wittiest plays ever written in English. The glowing critical reception in London on opening night at the St. James Theater in 1895 marked the high point of Wilde’s career as a writer.

Wilde's witty and buoyant comedy of manners, filled with some of literature's most famous epigrams, reprinted from an authoritative British edition. Considered Wilde's most perfect work.

Analyzes both the social context and the literary artistry of Oscar Wilde's comedic play

Theatre program.

This edition of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest locates his writings within the broader cultural concerns of his day and examines Wilde's aestheticism, his sexual politics, his socialist ideas, and his allegiances to Irish nationalism,

A collection of critical essays on Wilde's comedic play "The Importance of Being Earnest" arranged in chronological order of publication.

Key Features: Study methods Introduction to the text Summaries with critical notes Themes and techniques Textual analysis of key passages Author biography Historical and literary background Modern and historical critical approaches Chronology Glossary of literary terms

Lady Windermere's fan - A Woman of no importance - An ideal husband - Salome_______________

Familiar and resonant, Cline's collection takes readers into a private landscape of science fiction, pop culture, and pornography. Ernest Cline is a geek, novelist, poet, and screenwriter based in Austin, Texas. In addition to winning poetry slams, Cline is known for screenwriting "Fanboys," released in 2009. He also recently sold the film rights to his latest book, "Armada."

"The Importance of Being Earnest A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Some contemporary reviews praised the play's humour and the culmination of Wilde's artistic career, while others were cautious about its lack of social messages. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play."

Offers newly edited texts of five of the British playwright's works, including the great farcial comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest."

The Importance of Being Earnest and Four Other Plays, by Oscar Wilde, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences?biographical, historical, and literary?to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Oscar Wilde's legendary wit dazzles in The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the greatest and most popular works of drama to emerge from Victorian England. A light-hearted satire of the absurdity of all forms and conventions, this comic masterpiece features an unforgettable cast of characters who, as critic Max Beerbohm observed, ?speak a kind of beautiful nonsense?the language of high comedy, twisted into fantasy.” This collection also includes Oscar Wilde's most famous comedies, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, and An Ideal Husband, as well as his poetic tragedy Salomé?all written between 1891 and 1895, Wilde's most creative period. George Bernard Shaw said of Oscar Wilde that he is ?our most thorough playwright. He plays with everything: with wit, with philosophy, with drama, with actors and audience, with the whole theater.” Kenneth Krauss received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He teaches drama at the College of Saint Rose, where he also directs and produces. His most recent book is The Drama of Fallen France, on French theater under the German Occupation.

In this one-act adaptation of Oscar Wilde's beloved romantic comedy, the stakes are even higher and the deadlines even tighter for poor Jack Worthing, whose alter ego "Ernest" comes back to haunt him in the form of his rakish friend Algernon Montcrieff, who adopts the false identity to woo Jack's ward Cecily.

The four great comedies of Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, were all written at the height of the controversial Irish author's powers in his last, doomed decade, the 1890s. They remain among the most-loved, and most-quoted, of all drama in the English language. Along with Salome, his darkly decadent dramatization of the Bible story, these immortal plays continue to pack theatres, and have been adapted for every kind of media. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of The Importance of Being Earnest & Other Plays echoes the book form in which Wilde originally insisted his plays were published, and includes illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley and an afterword by Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 3,0, University of Mannheim, language: English, abstract: This paper will identify certain types of characters of the upper-class and relate them to the developments of the gender role in the Victorian era. Going along with it the mens different attitudes towards marriage as a constantly present issue in the play will be illustrated and compared to the points of view that dominated the high society in that time. Wilde refers to many more social habits and temporary fashions which however shall not be part of this paper."

Provides a collection of critical essays on Wilde's comedic play "The Importance of Being Earnest" arranged in chronological order of publication.

Literature Guides Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster. Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides: *Chapter-by-chapter analysis *Explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols *A review quiz and essay topics Lively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers

The fictional Bunbury comes to life with distressing and amusing results for Algernon, Jack (Ernest), Gwendolen, Cecily, Lady Bracknell, Dr. Chasuble, and Miss Prism.

This unique volume reconstructs the original 1895 production of Wilde's timeless classic. Based upon a new, reconstructive method for the study of theatrical performance that aims to set the play securely in its historical and cultural moment, the edition offers a wealth of detail about the staging and acting and numerous first production and early revival photographs. The reconstructed text itself, differing in important ways from the 1899 first edition, recaptures the essential comic vitality of the play.