Overview

'It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.'The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) proclaims that it is 'A Trivial Play for Serious People'. In fact, collected here alongside Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), Salome (1891, 1894), A Woman of No Importance (1893), and An Ideal Husband (1895), Earnest shows that the questions raised by Wilde's plays are anything but trivial. Witty and radical, they elegantly challenge Victorian social proprieties, featuring lies, blackmail, illicit desires, seductions, and double lives.This volume, edited by Kate Hext, positions Wilde's major plays in the context of Wilde's life, career, and late-Victorian culture. Its introduction provides a readable overview with stylistic analyses to help readers understand the plays and why they are still fresh and relevant today, followed by sections on each play which explain key figures, plot devices, and Wilde's evolution as a dramatist.The eBook offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools and navigation features: Find the eBook on VitalSource.FeaturesA new edition of Oscar Wilde's major plays: The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, Salome, A Woman of No Importance, and An Ideal HusbandContains a comprehensible and accessible introduction that guides the reader through an understanding of the plot, character, and style of each play, as well as its cultural history and contemporary relevanceIncludes revised and expanded explanatory notes to elucidate historical details and Biblical referencesFeatures an up-to-date guide to further research and adaptationsABOUT THE SERIESFor over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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9780192848024

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Edited by Kate HextKate Hext is an Associate Professor of Decadent Literature and the Arts at the University of Exeter and Visiting Professor of English at Ewha Womans University. Her publications include Wilde in the Dream Factory: Decadence and the American Movies (OUP), Walter Pater: Individualism and Aesthetic Philosophy, and, as co-editor, Decadence in the Age of Modernism. She is founding co-editor of the journal Cusp: Late 19th-/Early 20th-Century Cultures.

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