THE ANNOTATED IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

The truth is rarely pure and never simple, declares Algernon early in Act One of The Importance of Being Earnest, and were it eithe r, modern literature would be a complete impossibility. It is a moment of sly, winking self-regard on the part of the playwright, for The Importance is itself the sort of complex modern literary work in which the truth is neither pure nor simple. Oscar Wildes g reatest play is full of subtexts, disguises, concealments, and double entendres. Continuing the important cultural work he began in his award-winn...[Read more]