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The Annotated Importance of Being Earnest provides facing-page commentary on Oscar Wilde's greatest play. Editor Nicholas Frankel highlights the play's relation to the author's homosexuality and to the climate of sexual repression that led to Wilde's imprisonment just months after the play's London opening in 1895.
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.
A farce, one of the best ever written, cleverly constructed and delightfully amusing. There is only the slightest attempt at the sketching of character, while most of the personages are at best but caricatures; the Wilde's skill is brought to bear chiefly upon the situations and the lines. It so happens that this farce contains more clever lines, puns, epigrams, and deft repartees than any other of modern times, but these are after all accessory. A farce may be written without these additions--it might well be pure pantomime. Wilde has thrown them in for full measure.
The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar WildeThis lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff-two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
This lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff-two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar WildeThis lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff-two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
The Importance of Being Earnest By Oscar WildeThis lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff-two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
This lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff-two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
This lighthearted play tells the farcical tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Montcrieff--two men who falsely claim to be named Ernest when they fall in love with two women whose affections are illogically but irrevocably tied to the name.The Importance of Being Earnest was popular upon its debut in 1895, but the reputation of Oscar Wilde's works declined when he was imprisoned for accusations of homosexual behaviour. It was not until the twentieth century that Wilde's work was once again recognized both for its literary worth and comedic genius, and subsequently The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted many times for film and theatre, most recently in the 2002 film starring Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon, and Dame Judy Dench.
