Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854 (though later in life he would claim 1856 as the year of his birth).He attended the exclusive Portora Royal School in Enniskillen (as did Samuel Beckett half a century later), and in 1874, after three years at Trinity College, Dublin, he received a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. While there, Wilde distinguished himself academically, earning a rare double first in his final exams; artistically, winning the Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna; and socially, becoming notorious around the campus for his "art for art's sake" credo.

The text of this Norton Critical Edition of Oscar Wilde's 1895 comedic tour de force is the established three-act version, accompanied by explanatory annotations. The Importance of Being Earnest was originally written in four acts. but Wilde shortened it to three at the urging of George Alexander. the owner of the St. James Theatre and the first actor to play Jack Worthing. The excised portions of the play are included in an appendix.

"Backgrounds" includes essays on Wilde and the 1890s by prominent cultural critics Joseph Donohue. Regenia Gagnier,and Karl Beckson.

"Reviews and Reactions presents four contemporary responses to The hnportance of Being Earnest by William Archer,H. F. an American assessment). George Bernard Shaw (his famous dissenting opinion), and H. G, Wells. Seven wide-ranging recent interpretations, likely to promote lively classroom discussions, have been selected. Contributors include E. H.Mikhail. Camille Paglia. Christopher Craft. Michael Patrick Gillespie. Peter Raby, Richard Haslam. and Eva Theinpont,

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Preface

The Text of The Importance of Being Earnest

 Excised Portions of: the Play

Backgrounds

 Karl Beckson · London in the 1890s

 Joseph Donohue · Wilde and the Idea of a Theatre

 Regenia Gagnier · Creating the Audience

Criticism

REVIEWS AND REACTIONS

 William Archer · On The Importance of Being Earnest

 H. F. · On The Importance of Being Earnest

 George Bernard Shaw · On The Importance of Being

   Earnest

 H. G. Wells · On The Importance of Being Earnest

ESSAYS IN CRITICISM

 E. H. Mikhail · The Four-Act Version of The Importance

   of Being Earnest

 Eva Thienpont · From Faltering Arrow to-Pistol Shot:

   The Importance of Being Earnest

 Camille A. Paglia · Oscar Wilde and the English Epicene

 Christopher Craft · Alias Bunbury: Desire and

   Termination in The Importance of Being Earnest

 Michael Patrick Gillespie · From Beau Brummell to

   Lady Bracknell: Re-viewing the Dandy in The

  Importance of Being Earnest

 Peter Raby · The Genesis of the Play

 Richard Haslam · Oscar Wilde and the Imagination of

  the Celt

Oscar Wilde: A Chronology

Selected Bibliography