Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-02-07 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A universal favorite, The Importance of Being Earnest displays Oscar Wilde’s wit and theatrical genius at their brilliant best. Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” this hilarious attack on Victorian manners and morals turns a pompous world on its head, lets duplicity lead to happiness, and makes riposte the highest form of art. Written, according to Wilde, “by a butterfly for butterflies,” it is a dazzling masterpiece of comic entertainment. Although it was originally written in four acts, The Importance of Being Earnest is usually performed in a three-act version. This authoritative edition features an appendix that restores valuable lines that appeared in the original. Also included in this special collection are Wilde’s first comedy success, Lady Windermere’s Fan, and his richly sensual melodrama, Salomé, which he called “that terrible coloured little tragedy I once in some strange mood wrote”—and which shocked and enraged the censors of his time. Includes an Introduction by Sylvan Barnet and an Afterword by Elise Bruhl and Michael Gamer

Download or read book A Florentine Tragedy written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde and published by First Avenue Editions ™. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jack Worthing gets antsy living at his country estate. As an excuse, he spins tales of his rowdy brother Earnest living in London. When Jack rushes to the city to confront his "brother," he's free to become Earnest and live a different lifestyle. In London, his best friend, Algernon, begins to suspect Earnest is leading a double life. Earnest confesses that his real name is Jack and admits the ruse has become tricky as two women have become enchanted with the idea of marrying Earnest. On a whim, Algernon also pretends to be Earnest and encounters the two women as they meet at the estate. With two Earnests who aren't really earnest and two women in love with little more than a name, this play is a classic comedy of errors. This is an unabridged version of Oscar Wilde's English play, first published in 1899.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Belle s Stratagem written by Hannah Cowley and published by . This book was released on 1825 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Woman of No Importance written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 1895* with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Lady Windermere s Fan written by Oscar Wilde and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-04 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beautiful, aristocratic, an adored wife and young mother, Lady Windermere is 'a fascinating puritan' whose severe moral code leads her to the brink of social suicide. The only one who can save her is the mysterious Mrs Erlynne whose scandalous relationship with Lord Windermere has prompted her fatal impulse. And Mrs Erlynne has a secret - a secret Lady Windermere must never know if she is to retain her peace of mind.

Download or read book Oscar Wilde written by Matthew Sturgis and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 865 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fullest, most textural, most accurate—most human—account of Oscar Wilde's unique and dazzling life—based on extensive new research and newly discovered materials, from Wilde's personal letters and transcripts of his first trial to newly uncovered papers of his early romantic (and dangerous) escapades and the two-year prison term that shattered his soul and his life. "Simply the best modern biography of Wilde." —Evening Standard Drawing on material that has come to light in the past thirty years, including newly discovered letters, documents, first draft notebooks, and the full transcript of the libel trial, Matthew Sturgis meticulously portrays the key events and influences that shaped Oscar Wilde's life, returning the man "to his times, and to the facts," giving us Wilde's own experience as he experienced it. Here, fully and richly portrayed, is Wilde's Irish childhood; a dreamy, aloof boy; a stellar classicist at boarding school; a born entertainer with a talent for comedy and a need for an audience; his years at Oxford, a brilliant undergraduate punctuated by his reckless disregard for authority . . . his arrival in London, in 1878, "already noticeable everywhere" . . . his ten-year marriage to Constance Lloyd, the father of two boys; Constance unwittingly welcoming young men into the household who became Oscar's lovers, and dying in exile at the age of thirty-nine . . . Wilde's development as a playwright. . . becoming the high priest of the aesthetic movement; his successes . . . his celebrity. . . and in later years, his irresistible pull toward another—double—life, in flagrant defiance and disregard of England's strict sodomy laws ("the blackmailer's charter"); the tragic story of his fall that sent him to prison for two years at hard labor, destroying his life and shattering his soul.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest Other Plays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2017-03-23 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde written by Peter Raby and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-10-16 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde offers an essential introduction to one of the theatre's most important and enigmatic writers. Although a general overview, the volume also offers some of the latest thinking on the dramatist and his impact on the twentieth century. Part One places Wilde's work within the cultural and historical context of his time and includes an opening essay by Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland. Further chapters also examine Wilde and the Victorians and his image as a Dandy. Part Two looks at Wilde's essential work as playwright and general writer, including his poetry, critiques, and fiction, and provides detailed analysis of such key works as Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest among others. The third group of essays examines the themes and factors which shaped Wilde's work and includes Wilde and his view of the Victorian woman, Wilde's sexual identities, and interpreting Wilde on stage. This 1997 volume also contains a detailed chronology of Wilde's work, a guide to further reading, and illustrations from important productions.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde and published by Heinemann. This book was released on 1994 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theatre program.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest and Five Other Plays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Digireads.com Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Witty playwright Oscar Wilde is most famous for his 1895 play "The Importance of Being Earnest." The two protagonists use a false identity, Earnest, as a way to escape from unwanted social obligations. However, they encounter difficulties keeping up their personas as their social circles draw closer together. Wilde drew upon what he thought were outrageous social conventions of the Victorian Era and used satire to show the absurdity of its beliefs, like how marriage was more of a boring burden than a joyous commitment. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is one of the best known plays of the Victorian Era and has endured many revivals over the past one-hundred years. It is also a prime example of many Victorian gaffes, though they have to be viewed through the lens of Wilde's sardonic humor. Gathered in the collection "The Importance of Being Earnest and Five Other Plays" are "Lady Windermere's Fan," "A Woman of No Importance," and "An Ideal Husband," all of which speak to Wilde's satirical tone and attitude toward the Victorian Era. Also included are the fragmentary play, "A Florentine Tragedy" and "Salome," a retelling of the Biblical story where Salome asks for John the Baptist's head on a platter. Its tone is much darker and tragic than most of Wilde's other works, but its ability to portray such a gruesome event in a respectful way only proves that Oscar Wilde is one of the most important writers of the nineteenth century.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Oxford Paperbacks. This book was released on 2008-04-17 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. This is the only fully annotated edition of Wilde's major plays, which spearheaded the dramatic renaissance of the 1890s and retain their power today.[BOX TO GO ABOVE PLAYS] Under the General Editorship of Dr Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of these plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction and detailed annotation.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest written by Peter Raby and published by Macmillan Reference USA. This book was released on 1995 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the world's great comedies, an amazing success given that the play seems particularly concerned with subtle details of manners and mores set in a quite specific era, and in a most distinct milieu. Since the first production was staged in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest has been one of the most frequently performed plays in the modern English language repertory." "Peter Raby provides a resourceful and entertaining analysis of Wilde's celebrated play in The Importance of Being Earnest: A Reader's Companion. Far and away the most elaborate and informed study of the play, Raby hits all the requisite elements: genesis, structure and style, characters, and Wilde's historical and societal importance, among other aspects. He thoroughly explores the impact of the play on London's social values, providing frequent notes about Wilde and his times. His discussion of the origins and social context of the play is especially rewarding, including such tidbits as Wilde's financial pressures, characters' vocabulary and speech habits, and the way in which a response to a cucumber sandwich is a telling social gesture. So too does he make the reader aware of those attributes that render Wilde's writing so delightful: the quick elegance of his language, his masterful use of symmetry, his visual awareness and acute powers of description. Raby's keen interpretation and perception provide not just insight into a radiant work, but understanding of how a play aimed entirely at the money-making medium of the London stage managed to achieve - and maintain - such a high level of artistic accomplishment."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Random House. This book was released on 2016-07-07 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A selection of Oscar Wilde's best and most important plays - sharp, relevant and brilliant to this day. Who would have thought a comedy of manners written more than a hundred years ago would still be so apt and so funny? Oscar Wilde was a genius of play-writing, and his deftness, wit and sharp eye for social satire keep audiences in thrall to this day. Alongside Earnest, discover a biblical tragedy retold, Lady Windemere and her infamous fan and Wilde's take on an ideal husband, in this selection of Wilde's most important plays. ‘[The Importance of Being Earnest] has a strong claim to being the most perfect comedy in the English language’ Daily Telegraph

Download or read book Wilde written by Oscar Wilde and published by NHB Classic Plays. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All four of Wilde's famous plays in one bargain-priced volume.

Download or read book The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays written by Oscar Wilde and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-08 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each volume in a collection of affordable, readable editions of some of the world's greatest works of literature features a chronology of the author's life and career, a concise introduction containing valuable background information, a timeline of significant events, an outline of key plot points and themes, detailed explanatory notes, critical analyses, discussion questions, and a list of recommended books and films.