The importance of being earnest
By: Oscar Wilde ; edited by Russell Jackson
Contributors: Jackson, Russell, 1949- editor
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2013
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Description: A 'trivial play for serious people', a sparkling comedy of manners, 'The Importance of Being Earnest' is the epitome of wit and style. The play employs and parodies the conventions of farce and melodrama: identities are discovered, long lost family ties reinstated, and coincidences are savoured. The verbal brilliance of its highly self-conscious characters hides deep anxieties about social and personal identity. This neatly constructed satire, with its celebrated characters and much quoted dialogue, turns accepted ideas inside out and is generally regarded as Wilde's masterpiece.
Notes: Originally published: in print. London, Methuen Drama, 1988.