Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140480161 ISBN 13: 9780140480160

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1954

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1905. Excerpt: ... FIRST ACT Scene--Lawn in front of the terrace at Hum tanton. [Sir John and Lady Caroline Pontefract, Mist Worsley, on chairs under large yew tree.] Lady Caroline. I believe this is the first English country house you have stayed at, Miss Worsley? hester. Yes, Lady Caroline. Lady Caroline. You have no country houses, I am told, in America? Hester. We have not many. Lady Caroline. Have you any country? What we should call country? Hester [Smiling]. We have the largest country in the world, Lady Caroline. They used to tell us at school that some of our states are as big as France and England put together. Lady Caroline. Ah! you must find it very draughty, I should fancy. [To Sir John.] John, you should have your muffler. What is the use of my always knitting mufflers for you if you won't wear them? Sir John. I am quite warm, Caroline, assure you. Lady Caroline. I think not, John. Well, you couldn't come to a more charming place than this, Miss Worsley, though the house is excessively damp, quite unpardonably damp, and dear Lady Hunstanton is sometimes a little lax about the people she asks down here. [To Sir John.] Jane mixes too much. Lord Illingworth, of course, is a man of high distinction. It is a privilege to meet him. And that member of Parliament, Mr. Kettle Sir John. Kelvil, my love, Kelvil. Lady Caroline. He must be quite respectable. One has never heard his. name before in the whole course of one's life, which speaks volumes for a man, now-a-days. But Mrs. Allonby is hardly a very suitable person. Hester. I dislike Mrs. Allonby. I dislike her more than I can say. Lady Caroline. I am not sure, Miss Worsley, that foreigners like yourself should cultivate likes or dislikes about the people they are invited to meet. Mrs. Allonby is very well born. She is a niece of Lord Brancast...

From the Inside Flap:

This Vintage edition of The Plays_of Oscar Wilde contains the plays that made Wilde one of the most important dramatists of his time, including The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the great works of modern literature.
Oscar Wilde's plays demonstrate once again why their author must be seen as both an inaugurator and a master of modernism. In his best work, the subversive insights embedded in his wit continue to challenge our common assumptions. Wilde's ability to unsettle and startle us anew with his radical vision of the artifice inherent in the self's construction makes him our contemporary.
This edition is introduced by John Lahr, author of Prick Up Your Ears: The Biography of Joe Orton. The plays included are Lady Windermere's Fan, Salome, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest.

From the Back Cover:

This Vintage edition of The Plays of Oscar Wilde contains the plays that made Wilde one of the most important dramatists of his time, including The Importance of Being Earnest, one of the great works of modern literature.