The Importance of Being Earnest (Hardcover)

by Oscar Wilde (Author), Peter Raby (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In short, there is material aplenty here for the average reader and considerable matter for the specialist."--English Literature in Transition 1880-1920
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
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 renaissance of the 1890s and retain their power today. This collection offers newly edited texts of Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, Salome, An Ideal Husband, and, arguably the greatest farcical comedy in English, The Importance of Being Earnest.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2nd edition (March 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198121679
• ISBN-13: 978-0198121671
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,504,437 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Is Impotant To Be Earnest, October 5, 2003

By	Darnese Daniels (Jersey City, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Salome; Lady Windermere's Fan (Signet classics) (Paperback)

I had no knowledge of Oscar Wilde and had only seen ten minutes of the movie, The Importance of Being Earnest, as I flipped through the cable channels on my television. However, due to a class that I am enrolled in, not only do I now know who he is but I am blessed to have been introduced to his work.

The Importance of Being Earnest, makes a very humorous yet profound commentary on money, marriage, status and image as it pertains to the aristocracy of that time. It seems that Oscar Wilde utilized this medium of artistic expression to cleverly expose the twisted way that those with wealth perceived themselves and the lengths they would go to the preserve that perception. It has been referred to as a "comedy of manners" because so much of what defined or distinguished the aristocracy from the common man was not necessarily the wealth that they actually had but what men and women did to appear like they had it.

Ernest, who is the main character in the play, has done all of what is necessary to appear as though he comes from wealth. He wears the clothing, keeps the company and talks the talk of the aristocrat. However what he soon finds out is that all of those whom he is trying to impress and fit in with, have more unresolved issues in their closet than he does. I believe Wilde addresses this social paradox with impeccable wit and an amazing sense of human psychology. He not only challenged those who belonged to the aristocracy to examine what they placed value in, but continues to challenge each reader today, that these superficial values might not stand as valuable at all.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST EDITION OF THE PLAYS..., November 22, 2005

By	The Riviera Reviewer (the California Riviera.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

All you Wildeans take note: this is the only edition of the plays wherein the lines are properly numbered for specific citation and easy reference: very, very important!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Importance of the whole Text, November 9, 2004

By	Tusker (Notts, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays (Plays, Penguin) (Paperback)

An extraordinary play; witty, profound and beautiful. And even better if you read all of it. Which you won't if you buy the Penguin copy with Edith Evans on the front, since this version is heavily abridged. Which is fine except the publishers make no mention of this at all in the volume. And cultural vandalism of this kind should, I feel at least be acknowledged.