The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People
1973 Easton Press Cover
Author:
Oscar Wilde
Publication:
1899 by Leonard Smithers and Co.
Genre:
Adult Fiction, Classic Literature, Fiction, Humor, Love Story, Performing Arts, Satire
Pages:
152
Current state:
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Book Guide
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The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on February 14, 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 humor 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.
From the dust jacket of the SeaWolf reprint edition
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Resource Guide
Podcast
Episode 44: "The Importance of Being Earnest" Act 1
Released in 2020 by The Literary Life
Available formats: Streaming Video
Length: 1 hr. 27 min.
View on the The Literary Life site
Reviews
The Importance of Being Earnest
Reviewed by Sara Masarik
Oscar Wilde is a challenging writer. I think that he is most famous for three things: being openly and defiantly bi-sexual, The Picture of Dorian Grey, and this happy and delightfully funny little play, The Importance of Being Earnest. Because of his controversial and raucous personal life and his dark and disturbing Dorian Grey, I was genuinely uneasy about reading The Importance of Being Earnest. I was fearful that it would have themes that I found distasteful. It does not. Not really. In fact, it is English comedy at its best.
The Importance of Being Earnset
To escape his country home and a young ward named Cecily, Jack Worthing creates a fictional brother named Earnest,..
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