Lady Windermere's Fan (Classic Drama) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Oscar Wilde (Author), Michael Sheen (Performer), Samuel West (Performer)

Book Description

Series: Classic Drama | Publication Date: February 1997

When "Lady Windermere's Fan" opened in 1892, it ran for 150 performances. The play contains many of Oscar Wilde's most quoted aphorisms. To this day, it continues to be revived frequently. The music supplementing the readings is by Beethoven and Johann Baptist Cramer.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Dover goes Wilde with these two fine additions to its line of bargain titles. Lady Windermere is a typical Wilde farce; the latter volume is simply a collection of his best lines.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

Comedy of manners in four acts by Oscar Wilde, performed in 1892 and published the following year. Set in London, the play's action is put in motion by Lady Windermere's jealousy over her husband's interest in Mrs. Erlynne, a beautiful older woman with a mysterious past. Unknown to Lady Windermere, Mrs. Erlynne is really her divorced mother who, for the past 20 years, has been presumed dead. Lord Windermere is merely hoping to ease the older woman's reentrance into society, which she attempts under a pseudonym. In a fit of pique, Lady Windermere goes to the rooms of her ardent admirer, Lord Darlington. Mrs. Erlynne follows closely, saving her daughter from scandal by an act of generosity that ruins her own chances. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks Ltd.; abridged edition edition (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9626346116
• ISBN-13: 978-9626346112
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,439,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Wilde, Oscar

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How can women survive in victorian society, May 22, 2003

By 

Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lady Windermere's Fan (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

Oscar Wilde entirely dedicates this play to the exploration of the way a woman can be saved from destruction in this society of appearances. A woman was the victim of an imbroglio in the past and abandoned her daughter. This woman comes back and the daughter ignores her relation to her. She is brought back into societry by the daughter's husband who knows the truth but does not want his wife to know it. But there is some kind of malediction that flies over the heads of these women. The daughter nearly does the same mistake as her mother but she is saved by her mother who accepts to be tainted in her daughter's place. Bus Oscar Wilde must think there is some kind of reward for a good deed and all is well that ends well, and this play has a happy ending. In spite of all the melodramatic sentimentalese atmosphere, Oscar Wilde definitely explores in this play the great disadvantage of a woman in society. Men can do nearly all they want. Women are extremely limited and have to walk a very straight and narrow line. Oscar Wilde seems to be ahead of his time as for the fate of women: he seems to aspire for real equality for them, though he shows in all possible ways that this is impossible in his society.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wildely Entertaining, July 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lady Windermere's Fan (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

My first experience reading Oscar Wilde... and certainly not my last.

Wilde's sardonic wit and ineffable satire had me enchanted from page one. Wilde writes with devastatingly appealing witticisms, and with a style and cleverness matched by few other authors. It is said that he is one of the more oft-quoted authors in the English language, and I now understand why.

In addition to axioms and aphorisms of pure genius, the plot both captivates and surprises the reader. Lady Windermere discovers that her husband has been cheating on her, and a folly of misunderstandings and poor advice then unfolds; all the while satirizing society.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Oscar Wilde Masterpiece, April 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lady Windermere's Fan (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious. -- Oscar Wilde

The plot is about Lady Winderemere who goes from being a pillar of Victorian society to a woman of wandering morals. The woman who pulls her up is the one she suspected of being her husband's mistress. It's a comedy of society manners and morals with acerbic repartees and funny quips, in the great Oscar Wilde tradition.

Now, more than 100 years later, it still has a thought provoking depth which is very much applicable to today's society as well, although we view such adventures with less criticism and more understanding.

A wonderful comedy with all the wryness of Wilde.