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| The Importance of Being Earnest | 
 enlarge | Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: Prestwick House Inc.
Category: Book
Buy New: $3.99
New (4) Used (10) from $3.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 7329
Media: Paperback
Pages: 76
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.3
ISBN: 158049580X
Dewey Decimal Number: 822
EAN: 9781580495806
ASIN: 158049580X
Publication Date: January 1, 2005
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Product Description
This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and readers notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists. Oscar Wildes madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades. Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gewndolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jacks ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jacks country home on the same weekendthe "rivals" to fight for Ernests undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their belovedspandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
The Importance of Being Earnest November 28, 2008
This has always been a favorite of mine since I first experienced it in high school. I now use this version in the British Literature Class I teach at that level. It includes a glossary, divided by Act, in the back, too.
I tell my students this is the original sitcom, and they actually have to get out of their chairs and "act it out" as we read. They love the puns and the sniping comments and often tell me after we've read it, that it was their favorite book of the semester.
A laugh out loud book even if not used in the classroom!
Oscar Wilde was a genius October 12, 2008
It's hard to believe how long ago this play was written, as the wit and sarcasm used by Wilde back then can easily be understood and appreciated by today's readers. If you're looking for a quick but highly entertaining introduction to the world of Oscar Wilde, read this play. One of his absolute best.
Quick, clean, and to the point! September 24, 2008
I recieved this script within three days of ordering. Well packaged inside and out this book was without even a dent (being paperback).
The script itself is fabulous! Very witty and entertaining. Keeps the audience interest and the ending is very satisfying.
Thanks! Very happy with my purchase!
The constraints of morality; does absolute confidence really exist??? September 17, 2008
The play's protagonist Jack makes up an imaginary brother called Earnest, who he uses as an excuse to get out of town and do what he likes, but is too embarrassed to admit he likes.
Jack and Algernon are best friends, who amusingly get tangled in the web of being mistaken for Earnest and falling in love with women who are mesmerized by the name Earnest, which as Jack's object of affection Gwendolen puts it: "it inspires absolute confidence".
The ladies, despite their fixation with Earnest's name, accept their loved ones, but will these two men give up the dream of being Earnest, and if they do, will society and other people accept the lie they made up?
As expected, a forcibly happy ending will reveal an unexpected surprise about Jack and the made up character.
If it wasn't Oscar Wilde's play, I would've asked, what are the odds? Given the playful plot and the masked serious topics like deception, double lives, hypocrisy and mainly the nature of marriage, I can accept some deviation from reality.
The importance of being Earnest is a fun read, and a special sarcastic way of dealing with Victorian morals and values as Wilde perceived them. The play absolutely deserves all the attention it got and still gets.
a really good novel July 17, 2008
this is a novel always on fashion. hte dialogs are simply brilliant. oscar wilde picture a great variety of original personalities
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