The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde

jaan 1899 · L. Smithers and Company

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Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” Wilde’s play is a brilliantly satirical comedy of manners, sending up the absurdity of Victorian social mores and cleverly critiquing the conventions of love and marriage. The tale of two gentlemen who adopt fictitious identities in order to woo the objects of their affections is Wilde’s most beloved work, considered to be one of the wittiest plays ever written in English. The glowing critical reception in London on opening night at the St. James Theater in 1895 marked the high point of Wilde’s career as a writer.

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Oscar Wilde, a writer remembered for his sharp wit and biting social satire, was born in Dublin in 1854. His natural ease with language was further honed at Oxford, where he studied classics. At the height of his fame, following the London premiere of his play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde was charged with “gross indecency” for his homosexuality and imprisoned for two years. He then abandoned England for Paris, where he lived until his death in 1900.