Synopses & Reviews
Oscar Wilde was already one of the best-known literary figures in Britain when he was persuaded to turn his extraordinary talents to the theatre. Between 1891 and 1895 he produced a sequence of distinctive plays which spearheaded the dramatic renaissance of the 1890s and retain their power today. This collection offers newly edited texts of Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, Salome, An Ideal Husband, and, arguably the greatest farcical comedy in English, The Importance of Being Earnest.
About the Author
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford. In addition to his plays, he published poetry and several works of fiction, including The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898) was written after he spent two years in prison for indecent behavior.
Table of Contents
Introduction
A Note on the Texts
Select Bibliography
Lady Windermere's Fan 1
Salome 65
A Woman of No Importance 101
An Ideal Husband 175
A Florentine Tragedy 273
The Importance of Being Earnest 291
App The excised scene 359
Notes 364