Overview

The Importance of Being Earnest marks a central moment in late-Victorian literature, not only for its wit but also for its role in the shift from a Victorian to a Modern consciousness. The play began its career as a biting satire directed at the very audience who received it so delightedly, but ended its initial run as a harbinger of Wilde’s personal downfall when his lover’s father, who would later bring about Wilde’s arrest and imprisonment, attempted to disrupt the production. In addition to its focus on the textual history of the play, this Broadview Edition of Earnest provides a wide array of appendices. The edition locates Wilde’s work among the artistic and cultural contexts of the late nineteenth century and will provide scholars, students, and general readers with an important sourcebook for the play and the social, creative, and critical contexts of mid-1890s English life.

Full Product Details

Author:   Oscar Wilde ,  Samuel Lyndon Gladden
Publisher:   Broadview Press Ltd
Imprint:   Broadview Press Ltd
Edition:   Broadview ed
Dimensions:   Width: 21.60cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 14.00cm
Weight:   0.313kg
ISBN:  

9781551116945

ISBN 10:   1551116944
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   13 November 2009
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  General ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Oscar Wilde: A Brief Chronology A Note on the Text The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People Appendix A: Playbills for The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) The First, Uncensored Playbill The Second, Censored Playbill Appendix B: Reactions and Reviews From The Daily Graphic (15 February 1895) From William Archer, The World (20 February 1895) From The Observer (17 February 1895) From The Times (15 February 1895) From Bernard Shaw, Saturday Review (1895) From Max Beerbohm, Around Theatres (1902) Appendix C: Ada Leverson’s “The Advisability of Not Being Brought Up in a Handbag” (1895) Ada Leverson, “The Advisability of Not Being Brought Up in a Handbag,” Punch; or,The London Charivari (2 March 1895) Telegram from Oscar Wilde to Ada Leverson (15 February 1895) Appendix D: Three Works by Gilbert and Sullivan From W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Patience; or, Bunthorne’s Bride (1881) From W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria (1889) From W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, HMS Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor (1878) Appendix E: From J.G.F. Nicholson, Love in Earnest(1892) Appendix F: Conduct Manuals From Mrs. Humphrey, Manners for Men (1897) From Julia McNair Wright, Practical Life; or,Ways andMeans for Developing Character and Resources (1881) Appendix G: On Dandyism and on Wilde as a Dandy From Charles Kendrick, Ye Soul Agonies in Ye Life of Oscar Wilde (1882) George Frederick Keller, “The Modern Messiah,” Wasp (31 March 1882) Linley Sambourne, “O.W. [Punch’s Fancy Portraits 37],” Punch; or,The London Charivari (25 June 1881) From Lloyd Lewis and Henry Justin Smith, “No Wave of His Chiseled Hand” (1936) “Aestheticism as Oscar Understands It” (1882) “Mr. Wild [sic] of Borneo” (1882) W.H. Beard, “The Aesthetic Monkey” (1882) Appendix H: Other Works by Wilde From “A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated” (1894) From “Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young” (1894) From “Preface,” The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) From “The Decay of Lying” (1889) From De Profundis (1897; published 1962) Letter to Philip Houghton (February 1894) Letter to George Alexander (July 1894) Letter to George Alexander (September 1894) Letter to George Alexander (October 1894) Letter to an Unidentified Correspondent (February 1895) Letter to Lord Alfred Douglas (February 1895) Letter to R.V. Shone (February 1895) Appendix I: From the Original Four-Act Version Passages Regarding Algernon’s and Ernest’s Past-due Accounts Passages Illuminating the Characters and Roles of Miss Prism and Canon Chasuble Additional Passages Bibliography

Reviews

Broadview's Importance of Being Earnest carries on the press's excellent series of texts for general readers and students alike. Samuel Lyndon Gladden presents the three-act text, as well as an appendix with important scenes and lines from the original four-act version. The volume includes many useful annotations and glosses, appendices with contextual information, illustrations, and extracts from letters and documents that will enhance understanding and interpretation of the play. The introduction places the play in up-to-date critical and biographical contexts, illuminating issues without closing down other approaches to making sense of Wilde's carefully composed dramatic nonsense. --Philip E. Smith

Author Information

Samuel Lyndon Gladden is Associate Professor, Coordinator of Graduate Studies in English, and Dean’s Faculty Administrative Fellow for the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Northern Iowa.

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