The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde was at once a family man and a homosexual outsider, a socialite, socialist, and Irish nationalist. His contradictions inspired him to ponder the roles and masks donned in conventional society, and his acute and wry insights are wonderfully displayed in this collection of his essential plays. Known not only for his brilliant, epigrammatic language, but also for his sense of theatrical design, color, and staging, Wilde created an enduring body of finely crafted works, whose delights and ironies still speak to modern audiences. In addition to Lady Windermere's Fan, Salomé, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, A Florentine Tragedy, and The Importance of Being Earnest, this edition contains an introduction, notes and commentaries, and an excised scene from The Importance of Being Earnest.

Author Bio: 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.

Richard Allen Cave is professor of drama and theatre arts at Royal Holloway, University of London.