Importance of Being Earnest

Importance of Being Earnest

and other plays

Signet Classics
by Oscar Wilde, Sylvan Barnet (Introduction), 2 othersElise Bruhl (Afterword), Michael Gamer (Afterword)
Publisher: Signet Classics
Mass market paperback, 201 pages
Price: $5.95

Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St. James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation.

From the play's effervescent beginnings in Algernon Moncrieff's London flat to its hilarious denouement in the drawing room of Jack Worthing's country manor in Hertfordshire, this comic masterpiece keeps audiences breathlessly anticipating a new bon mot or a fresh twist of plot moment to moment.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chronology

  • Salomé
  • Lady Windermere's Fan
  • The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

Appendix: The Gribsby Episode in The Importance of Being Earnest
Afterword
Suggested References

 

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