The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Novel for Serious People

by Charles Osborne (Adapter/Novelization), Oscar Wilde

Novelization of Oscar Wilde's Play

The Importance of Being Earnest shows a full measure of Oscar Wilde's legendary wit, and embodies more than any of his other plays, his decency and warmth. This edition contains substantial excerpts from the original four-act version which was never produed, as well as the full test of the final three-act version, selections from Wilde's correspondence, and commentary by George Bernard Shaw, Max Beerbohm, St. John Hankin, and James Agate.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Plays, Humor, Young Adult, Literature, Historical Fiction

159 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2015

About the author

Charles Thomas Osborne was a journalist, theatre and opera critic, poet and novelist. He was assistant editor of The London Magazine from 1958 until 1966, literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 until 1986, and chief theatre critic of Daily Telegraph (London) from 1986 to 1991. He is the only author the Agatha Christie Estate has ever allowed to produce adapted works in her name. (wikipedia)

Reviews

[roz_anthi]

Κάθε μα κάθε γραμμή στα έργα του Όσκαρ Ουάιλντ επιδιώκει και επιτυγχάνει την απόλυτη σαγήνη. Δεν περισσεύει τίποτα, όλα εντάσσονται σε ένα μεγάλο σχέδιο, σε ένα σαρκαστικό ξέσκισμα της βικτωριανών υποκριτικών ηθών και συνακόλουθα, στην τεκμηρίωση μιας νέας ηθικής, που αντλεί την υπεροχή της από την ανάδειξη της ζωής ως ενός διαρκούς έργου τέχνης.

Κάνοντας παιχνίδι με τον όρο earnest (ειλικρινής, σοβαρός) με έναν άντρα που είναι και δεν είναι ο Έρνεστ, ο Ουάιλντ στήνει μια μαγευτικά ευφυή κωμωδία παρεξηγήσεων. Οι δύο άντρες πρωταγωνιστές, ο Algernon και ο Jack, που επινοούν δύο ψεύτικες ταυτότητες, τον Bunbury και τον Earnest, για να μπορούν να ξεφεύγουν από οικογενειακές υποχρεώσεις και να απολαμβάνουν μυστικά τις απολαύσεις έξω από τον βικτωριανό κλοιό, αντιπροσωπεύουν δύο όψεις της απάτης που όμως διαφέρουν ριζικά:

Ο Algernon παράγει μια σειρά από φαντασιοκοπίες ανακατασκευάζοντας τη ζωή του μαζί με (και για) τη γυναίκα που αγαπά, ο Jack εξαπατά τους πάντες πεθαίνοντας βολικά τον άρρωστο αδερφό του την κατάλληλη στιγμή και προσπαθώντας με φιοριτούρες και παραστάσεις να πείσει τους πάντες ότι πενθεί.

Δε θα γράψω περισσότερα γιατί, αν και το έργο είναι μικρό, βρίθει από εκπλήξεις. Δοκιμάστε το στα αγγλικά, είναι απολαυστικό και αρκετά εύκολο.

[Camelia Rose]

This is a novelized version of Oscar Wilde's play, The Importance of Being Earnest. It's laugh-out-loud funny. Very Oscar Wilde. The era that breeds these characters is long gone. The characters become hardly relatable for an average modern reader. Yet, the essence remains.

One of my favorite quotes:
"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

[Larissa]

Love it. Very funny, very Oscar.

[Melissa]

This is Wilde's hilarious play written as a novel.

[Daphne]

This is completely identical to the play, so don't go into this expecting any additions to the original story. However, that also means that this book is as funny as the play as all the original dialogue is kept in tact. Though nothing can beat seeing the play live, this is a really nice edition of The Importance of Being Earnest to own since it's much nicer to read prose than stage directions.

[Michael Dennis]

Don't get me wrong: I love The Importance of Being Earnest. It is witty, it's absurd, and most assuredly it's trivial. But I did hope for more in this novelization than merely Wilde's brilliant dialogue interspersed with a few "he replied" or "he thought a moment and said" and a few minor stage directions. I was kinda hoping for maybe some clever additions that might make the play even more enjoyable or enjoyable in a new way.

The most obvious way to enjoy the original work is to see it on stage. The audio performance by L.A. Theatre Works (live "radio-type" performance) is near perfect in every way. This performance is available in audible.com's "The Oscar Wilde Collection" and I highly recommend listening to the plays this way. Next, the 1952 film covers the play pretty well.

If a reader has difficulty reading the format of a play, this book is at least an entree into this work and so for that reason, it probably has a valid place.

[Barbara Nutting]

Hilarious and whacky - a spoof on the uppity British! I read it visualizing it being performed in a theater, crossing the stage, closing doors etc. I bet the actual performance was a wild, madcap comedy. 🤗

[Mada]

The play focuses on the situational comedy, turning Jack's alibi into his trouble with the "help" of his friend, Algy. With some twists and turns a bit forced, "The Importance of Being Earnest" still manages to be an enjoyable read, making you drop a laugh here and there.

Being quite short, it doesn't lose its charm and it doesn't get to be boring or tedious. I'd recommend it :)

[Lindsey]

This made me laugh. It was such a short read and highly implausible-I mean what are the chances of two women insisting on marrying a man named Ernest, a lost baby/unknown identity, and "Bunburying" (times two!) all in the same story? It is a comedy pure and simple and so much fun in its absurdness!

[Madisen]

I loved how every single character was so unrealistic and exaggerated. I liked how in the end everything was resolved.

I really liked Algernon’s character because he had so many great one-liners that sounded quite to modern.

I can tell that it was originally a play, as the dialogue was the most important piece, but the book still flowed nicely.

[Ananya Basak]

🔸 "I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can’t go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left."

🔸 "And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."

A perfectly hilarious novel (3 act play). Oscar Wilde never fails to amuse his readers! One of my best reads of this year (hope there would be a lot more 🤞🏼). Hoping to read many more works of Oscar Wilde. ✨

Well, do read "The Canterville Ghost" too, for a good laugh. 😁👻

[Natalia]

A great little novel version of the famous play. 
Largely revolving around two men, both having invented a person as an excuse to get out of terribly dull social engagement and take some time out of their mundane lives.
It all goes horribly wrong. Everyone is really opinionated and dramatic.
Two things I took from this story is that middle class society really talked some absolute drivel on philosophy and young women had absolutely no expectations beyond the superficial.
Perhaps it was Wilde's satire on the middle class.
Excellent plot twist at the end.

[Jorgina]

Love this adaption from play form to novel. Nothing lost and everything gained. I have seen the play 3 times, seen the movie and now have read the book. It never fails to extract a loud guffaw from me. Love the contradictions and oxymorons and the inevitable stab at high society.

[MorganZRT]

Everybody has a collection of books, which they can read over and over again. Well, this book is in my collection of such books, for sure. By the way, if you like to read ebooks, and get it for free, I can recommend this PDFMania useful website, which helped me to find this book as well. I love this website.

[Gold Dust]

A short, funny play. Well done.

[Andy]

A delightful read!

[Aloke Jain]

A lack of understanding of the victorian society led to a poor appreciation of the intended humour. Also, not the finest example of inverted homilies.

[Myriamtarifaa_]

Bueno pero la historia es difícil de seguir según tu nivel de inglés

[Marcos]

A clever classic play that is best described as “oh so English”.

[Cameron Lopez]

a bit silly ending, pretty funny throughout, sometimes i get annoyed when things end like this but it’s a play so, honestly a lot less romantic than i expected

[maya]

was expecting for it to not be my cup of tea, but surprisingly i found it quite pleasant to read

[launasi]

Quick & pleasant read

[Dan]

Besides being a farce, what was the point. Apparently the Victorians had no problems with cousins marrying each other.

[Celine]

still one of my favorites

[Jason Worcester]

I read the play, but my goodness was it hilarious. It makes me want to read more Oscar Wilde. Reminded me of catch-22 humor. I wish I understood more of what the characters were saying though

[Kathleen]

Shorter than I expected, possibly due to the removed and restored fourth act. I enjoyed the contemporary essays, but question whether they add much to the book besides the extra pages.

[Lil Anonymous]

It's a classic and you probably know its premise but here goes, there's a dude who pretends to be a person called earnest. He has got a friend who pretends to be someone else as well. The friend decides to pretend to be earnest. Both of them fall in love while they are earnest, and now the women they love are in love with earnest. All the characters are equally stupid, I had a lovely time. There was a twist I didn't see coming as well.
I recommend this book, and reading it aloud to anyone who's ready to listen.

[Kloklo]

4,75

[Gwendolyn]

Such a funny read, full of british humor. Charles Osborne has adapted Oscar Wilde's play into a reader-friendly novel. Another quick, 159-page book. The main characters are like-able, ridiculous and bent on creating chaos with the tangled webs they weave which left me laughing outright at least a half-dozen times. Great satire that pokes fun at itself.

[Natalia]

This was a quick read. Based on the story and a dialogue, I would probably like this if I have seen it as a play. As a novel, it was only so so. Quite outdated and not really relevant any longer as this society is long gone. I did not regret I read it. Now I know what it is about. However, I would not go around recommending this novel to people.