Oscar Wilde S Society Plays

As the first collection of essays about Oscar Wilde's comedies, the contributors re-evaluate Oscar Wilde's society plays as 'comedies of manners" to see whether this is actually an apt way to read Wilde's most emblematic plays. Focusing on both the context and the texts, the collection locates Wilde both in his social and literary contexts.

A radical re-examination of Oscar Wilde's plays, Revising Wilde challenges long-established views of the writer as a dilettante and dandy, revealing him instead as a serious philosopher and social critic who used his plays to subvert the traditional values of Victorian literature and society. By tracing Wilde's painstaking revisions and redraftings of his plays, Sos Eltis uncovers themes subsequently concealed in successive versions which demonstrate that Wilde was in fact an anarchist, a socialist, and a feminist. Wilde borrowed plots and incidents from numerous contemporary French and English plays, but he then subtly rewrote his plagiarized material in order to mock the very conventions he imitated. By analysing previously unconsidered manuscript drafts, and comparing the finished plays with their sources, Eltis displays a surprising depth and complexity to Wilde's work. The little-known early play, Vera; or, The Nihilists is revealed as a politically radical drama, the society plays are shown to challenge Victorian sexual and social mores, and The Importance of Being Earnest is interpreted as an anarchic farce, which reflects the Utopian vision of Wilde's political essay, 'The Soul of Man under Socialism'. Taking into account the most recent scholarship and criticism, this accessible study will be of interest to Wilde specialists and enthusiasts alike.

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1 (A), LMU Munich (Anglistics), course: Advanced Seminar Literature Studies, 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Die Arbeit untersucht, inwieweit Oscar Wildes Stück die Werte des Viktorianischen Zeitalters satirisch beleuchtet und dabei auch mit den damals gängigen dramatischen Konventionen bricht.

"The five plays in the volume were first performed between 1892 and 1896"--Title page verso.

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.

DigiCat presents to you this meticulously edited collection which incorporates complete plays, short stories, poems, essays, literary reviews, letters and the only novel of one and only Oscar Wilde: Plays: Vera The Duchess of Padua Lady Windermere's Fan A Woman of No Importance Salomé Salome (English Version) An Ideal Husband The Importance of Being Earnest La Sainte Courtisane A Florentine Tragedy For Love of the King Novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray (The Original Version) The Picture of Dorian Gray (The Revised 20 Chapter Version) Short Stories: The Portrait of Mr. W. H. The Happy Prince and Other Tales: The Happy Prince The Nightingale and the Rose The Devoted Friend The Selfish Giant The Remarkable Rocket A House of Pomegranates: The Young King The Birthday of the Infanta The Fisherman and His Soul The Star-Child Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories: Lord Arthur Savile's Crime The Canterville Ghost The Sphinx Without a Secret The Model Millionaire Poetry: Ravenna Hélas! Eleutheria Sonnet to Liberty Ave Imperatrix Louis Napoleon. Quantum Mutata Libertatis Sacra Fames Theoretikos The Garden of Eros Rosa Mystica The Burden of Itys Wind Flowers Impression du Matin Magdalen Walks Athanasia Serenade Endymion La Bella Donna della Mia Mente Chanson Charmides Flowers of Gold The Sphinx The Ballad of Reading Gaol... Essays & Lectures: Intentions The Decay of Lying The Critic as Artist Pen, Pencil, and Poison The Truth of Masks The Rise of Historical Criticism The English Renaissance of Art House Decoration Art and the Handicraftsman Lecture to Art Students London Models Poems in Prose The Soul of Man under Socialism De Profundis Impressions of America... Literary Reviews: Dinners and Dishes A Modern Epic Shakespeare on Scenery A Bevy of Poets Parnassus versus Philology... Other Works: Aphorisms Des Grieux (Prelude to Teleny) Teleny Letters: Letters to the Daily Chronicle Children in Prison and Other Cruelties of Prison Life Letters on Dorian Gray Letters to Robert Ross Oscar Wilde, His life and Confessions – Biography by Frank Harris