Browse all books

Books with title The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

  • Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    eBook (, Nov. 17, 2015)
    *This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors.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 personæ 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. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.
  • Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    eBook (, Nov. 17, 2015)
    *This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors.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 personæ 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. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    Paperback (Benediction Classics, Feb. 2, 2018)
    Oscar Wilde, arguably the wittiest writer in English, was at the height of this powers when he wrote The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde wrote it quickly, but then extensively revised and shortened this work to create a gem. Despite its apparent humour, the play addresses the state of Victorian society; indeed, it is subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.”
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    Hardcover (FQ Classics, Sept. 17, 2007)
    The Importance of Being Earnest is an important play by Oscar Wilde, and is a comedy of manners that discusses the serious of society. Set in late Victorian England, the story is about the main charachter, John Worthing's, ficticious brother Ernest, which is the main source of the comedy in this work. This is an important play for those are fans of comedy plays and of course the works of Oscar Wilde.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

    Oscar Wilde

    Mass Market Paperback (Signet Classics, March 10, 1985)
    None
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    Paperback (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Nov. 23, 2017)
    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 personæ 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. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wild

    Paperback (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Dec. 22, 2016)
    The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wild. Worldwide literature classic, among top 100 literary novels of all time. A must read for everybody, a book that will keep saying what it has to say for years.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    eBook (, Jan. 28, 2020)
    Oscar Wilde's madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades.Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gwendolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jack's ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jack's country home on the same weekend the "rivals" to fight for Ernest's undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their beloveds pandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and reader's notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    Paperback (Simon & Brown, Feb. 28, 2012)
    Oscar Wilde was at once a family man and a homosexual outsider, a socialite, socialist, and Irish nationalist. His contradictions inspired him to ponder the roles and masks donned in conventional society, and his acute and wry insights are wonderfully displayed in this collection of his essential plays. Known not only for his brilliant, epigrammatic language, but also for his sense of theatrical design, color, and staging, Wilde created an enduring body of finely crafted works, whose delights and ironies still speak to modern audiences. In addition to Lady Windermere's Fan, Salomé, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, A Florentine Tragedy, and The Importance of Being Earnest, this edition contains an introduction, notes and commentaries, and an excised scene from The Importance of Being Earnest.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays

    Oscar Wilde

    Mass Market Paperback (Signet Classics, March 10, 1985)
    This series presents students with a library of outstanding plays, many of which are otherwise unobtainable, or available only in out-of-date or unannotated editions. The texts are newly edited, with modernized spelling and punctuation where appropriate; and there are scholarly introductions and annotation.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde

    Paperback (Independently published, Sept. 11, 2018)
    The Importance of Being Earnest is a novel written by Oscar Wilde first published in 1895. Complete and unabridged.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest

    Oscar Wilde, Rachel Lay

    eBook (, April 20, 2014)
    • The book includes 10 unique illustrations that are relevant to its content.The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order 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. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde's career but also heralded his downfall. The Marquess of Queensberry, father of Lord Alfred Douglas, an intimate friend of Wilde, planned to present Wilde a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission. Soon afterwards, however, their feud came to a climax in court, where Wilde's homosexual double life was revealed to the Victorian public and he was eventually sentenced to imprisonment. Wilde's notoriety caused the play, despite its success, to be closed after just 86 performances. After his release, he published the play from exile in Paris, but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work.The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere. It has been adapted for the cinema on three occasions. In The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Dame Edith Evans reprised her celebrated interpretation of Lady Bracknell; The Importance of Being Earnest (1992) by Kurt Baker used an all-black cast; and Oliver Parker's The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) incorporated some material cut during the preparation of the original stage production.