The Importance Of Being Earnest and Other Plays — Oscar Wilde

The Importance of Being Earnest 1895 proclaims that it is A Trivial Play for Serious People In fact collected here alongside Lady Windermeres Fan 1892 Salome 1891 1894 A Woman of No Importance 1893 and An Ideal Husband 1895 Earnest shows that the questions raised by Wildes plays are anything but trivial Witty and radical they elegantly challenge Victorian social proprieties featuring lies blackmail illicit desires seductions and double lives This volume edited by Kate Hext positions Wildes major plays in the context of Wildes life career and late Victorian culture Its introduction provides a readable overview with stylistic analyses to help readers understand the plays and why they are still fresh and relevant today followed by sections on each play which explain key figures plot devices and Wildes evolution as a dramatist

Oscar Wilde was already one of the best known literary figures in Britain when he was persuaded to turn his extraordinary talents to the theatre Between 1891 and 1895 he produced a sequence of distinctive plays which spearheaded the dramatic renaiss

The Importance of Being Earnest 1895 proclaims that it is A Trivial Play for Serious People In fact collected here alongside Lady Windermere s Fan 1892 Salome 1891 1894 A Woman of No Importance 1893 and An Ideal Husband 1895 Earnest shows that the questions raised by Wilde s plays are anything but trivial Witty and radical they elegantly challenge Victorian social proprieties featuring lies blackmail illicit desires seductions and double lives This volume edited by Kate Hext positions Wilde s major plays in the context of Wilde s life career and late Victorian culture Its introduction provides a readable overview with stylistic analyses to help readers understand the plays and why they are still fresh and relevant today followed by sections on each play which explain key figures plot devices and Wilde s evolution as a dramatist