Book Review: The Importance of Being Earnest

Book #17

“The only way to behave to a woman is to make love to her, if she is pretty, and to someone else if she is plain,” The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde

This is the sixth play we’re doing in my English Lit module, and I’ve got to say, it’s the one I’ve enjoyed reading the most. The lectures for it start today so I hope they do it justice, because if they ruin Wilde for me I will kick someone’s ass. For the first time this module, I’ve enjoyed reading the set material. It’s not that I don’t like Shakespeare, or Marlowe, or Pix (in fact, I hate Pix, but that’ll come in her review) — it’s just that those read as plays, and they’re tedious, and I get so exhausted reading footnotes and asides that I barely have the mental capacity to imagine it in performance. Considering they’re plays and are meant to be preformed, imagination is key. With Wilde, the words flow easily, it’s interesting, and I can clearly picture it and I can see how I’d want it performed. In other words, I have an opinion about it and I can write an essay about it.

I have, of course, read this before. I absolutely adore Wilde. I hadn’t read it in a few years though, so I thought I’d refresh my memory. One constant irritation with reading Wilde is the overwhelming desire to write down every other sentence to quote at somebody! I really love his witticisms. I’ve been asked sometimes if I wanted someone to write me, who would it be? I think Wilde. My life would sound so much more interesting!