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November 2014 ENGLISH READING CLUB
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OSCAR WILDE The importance of being Earnest
OSCAR WILDE (Dublin, Ireland, 1854-Paris, 1900) ------------------------------- BIOGRAPHY Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish poet and dramatist, famous for The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. His father was an esteemed surgeon. His father’s career and Oscar’s scholarships enabled the young man to attain an impressive college education. During his college years, he became part of the “Oxford Movement” (a group that expounded upon the virtues of classical culture and artistry) and a devotee of the school of aestheticism (in other words, he believed in “art for the sake of art”). His greatest successes occurred when he began writing comedies for the stage, but sadly, Wilde’s life did not end in the manner of his “drawing room comedies.” Despite being married to wealthy heiress Constance Lloyd, Oscar Wilde was publicly accused of sodomy by the Marquis of Queensbury for having had an intimate relationship with his son, Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas. His controversial, open lifestyle was the reason for which he was charged and eventually convicted. His stint in prison destroyed him, leaving him a shadow of his former, vibrant self. He lived in a hotel in Paris under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth. Most of his friends no longer associated with him. Afflicted with cerebral meningitis, he died three years after his prison term, impoverished. Rumor has it that Wilde’s last words were: “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” "
----------------------------------SELECTED WORKS Poems (1881) The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888, fairy stories) Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (1891, stories) House of Pomegranates (1891, fairy stories) Intentions (1891, essays and dialogues on aesthetics) The Picture of Dorian Gray (first published in Lipincott's July 1890, in book form in 1891; novel) The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891, political essay) Lady Windermere's Fan (1892, play) A Woman of No Importance (1893, play) An Ideal Husband (performed 1895, published 1898; play) The Importance of Being Earnest (performed 1895, published 1898; play) De Profundis (written 1897, published variously 1905, 1908, 1949, 1962; epistle) The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898, poem)
----The importance of being Earnest (1895) This is a play first performed on 14 February 1895. The story is about an “imaginary” Ernest. Ernest is a number of people: John Worthing, John Worthing's imaginary brother, and Algernon Montcrieff... Ernest does not exist but is rather the creation of John's and Algernon's overactive and untruthful minds. As the pair create a web of lies in order to impress the women in their lives who absolutely adore the name Ernest, they become more and more tangled in their mess. There is a pun intended on the title of the play “Earnest” (meaning “sincere”) and first name Ernest.