Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 2: The Importance of Being Earnest
Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2007-12-13
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780194235181
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWord count 6,347
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The Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde
Author: Peter Raby
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1997-10-16
Total Pages: 344
ISBN-13: 9780521479875
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Cambridge Companion to Oscar Wilde offers an essential introduction to one of the theatre's most important and enigmatic writers. Although a general overview, the volume also offers some of the latest thinking on the dramatist and his impact on the twentieth century. Part One places Wilde's work within the cultural and historical context of his time and includes an opening essay by Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland. Further chapters also examine Wilde and the Victorians and his image as a Dandy. Part Two looks at Wilde's essential work as playwright and general writer, including his poetry, critiques, and fiction, and provides detailed analysis of such key works as Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest among others. The third group of essays examines the themes and factors which shaped Wilde's work and includes Wilde and his view of the Victorian woman, Wilde's sexual identities, and interpreting Wilde on stage. This 1997 volume also contains a detailed chronology of Wilde's work, a guide to further reading, and illustrations from important productions.
Refiguring Oscar Wilde’s Salome
Author: Michael Y. Bennett
Publisher: Rodopi
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 295
ISBN-13: 9401207208
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhile Oscar Wilde’s delightfully-witty comedies of manners receive the most fanfare from the general public and much of academia, Wilde’s most “serious” play—Salome—rightfully deserves an equal amount of attention. Written by emerging scholars, established scholars, and notable Wilde scholars at the top of the field, the far-ranging essays in this book—the first collection solely on Wilde’s Salome—provide new readings of the play, allowing us to better assess how and why Salome either fits or does not fit into Wilde’s oeuvre. Framed in a new light in this collection, this fuller understanding of Salome should potentially change the way we read both Salome and Wilde’s entire oeuvre.
How to Read Texts
Author: Neil McCaw
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-09-26
Total Pages: 184
ISBN-13: 1441108181
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNow in its second edition, How to Read Texts introduces students to key critical approaches to literary texts and offers a practical introduction for students developing their own critical and close-reading skills. Written in a lively, jargon-free style, it explains critical concepts, approaches and ideas including: - Debates around critical theory - The role of history and context - The links between creativity and criticism - The relationship between author, reader and text. The new edition now includes guidance on analysing a range of multi-media texts, including film and online media as well as the purely literary. In addition to new practical examples, readings, exercises and 'checkpoints' that help students to build confidence in their own critical readings of both primary and secondary texts, the book now also offers guidance on writing fully-formed critical essays and tips for independent research. Comprehensively updated and revised throughout, How to Read Texts is an indispensible guide for students making the transition to university study.
Oscar Wilde in Context
Author: Kerry Powell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013-12-12
Total Pages: 437
ISBN-13: 1107016134
DOWNLOAD EBOOKConcise and illuminating articles explore Oscar Wilde's life and work in the context of the turbulent landscape of his time.
The Importance of Not Being Earnest
Author: Wallace Chafe
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Published: 2007-02-01
Total Pages: 183
ISBN-13: 9027292973
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe thesis of this book is that neither laughter nor humor can be understood apart from the feeling that underlies them. This feeling is a mental state in which people exclude some situation from their knowledge of how the world really is, thereby inhibiting seriousness where seriousness would be counterproductive. Laughter is viewed as an expression of this feeling, and humor as a set of devices designed to trigger it because it is so pleasant and distracting. Beginning with phonetic analyses of laughter, the book examines ways in which the feeling behind the laughter is elicited by both humorous and nonhumorous situations. It discusses properties of this feeling that justify its inclusion in the repertoire of human emotions. Against this background it illustrates the creation of humor in several folklore genres and across several cultures. Finally, it reconciles this understanding with various already familiar ways of explaining humor and laughter.
A Preface to Oscar Wilde
Author: Anne Varty
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-07-15
Total Pages: 260
ISBN-13: 1317892313
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA Preface to Oscar Wilde provides a detailed study of the cultural, personal and political influences that shaped Wilde's writing. The study concentrates primarily on his fiction, critical dialogues and plays that were published between 1890 and 1895, and detailed accounts of Wilde's lesser known works such as his poetry, journalism and letters are also presented. The first section places his work in a variety of cultural contexts: Wilde's family life and his Irish inheritance are examined, the impact of his sexuality on his writing and reputation is considered, and a description is provided of how Wilde became a legendary figure in the arts. Major innovations and successes, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Salome and The Importance of Being Earnest are related to avant garde movements of their day such as aestheticism, decadence, and symbolism. Reference sections provide supporting material such as a Wilde chronology, a glossary of terms and a bibliography for further study. Anne Varty sets out in this study to bring to life the work of Wilde, and to make his writing accessible to readers who are unfamiliar with his achievements. In so doing, she confronts the ethical drive of his work, and demonstrates the coherent evolution of his work from the aestheticism of the early poetry, through the sophisticated handling of theatre, to the dark self-scrutiny of autobiography. The comprehensive and accessible approach makes this a useful reference work to all who are studying Oscar Wilde, both at A Level and undergraduate level. The content will also appeal to the general reader who is seeking to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of Wilde's work.
Oscar Wilde and the Radical Politics of the Fin de Siècle
Author: Deaglán Ó Donghaile
Publisher: Edinburgh Critical Studies in
Published: 2020
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9781474459433
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book reads Oscar Wilde's literary texts in relation to his open support for revolutionaries, along with his expressions of solidarity with Irish republicans, anarchists, workers and migrants.
Thea's Song: The Life of Thea Bowman
Author: Charlene Smith and John Feister
Publisher: Orbis Books
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 337
ISBN-13: 1608330451
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"The definitive, authorized biography of Thea Bowman, a black girl born in civil rights era Mississippi who joined a convent of white Catholic sisters and went on to inspire millions of all faiths and none."--
Oscar Wilde and Classical Antiquity
Author: Kathleen Riley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018
Total Pages: 401
ISBN-13: 0198789262
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFew authors of the Victorian period were as immersed in classical learning as Oscar Wilde. Although famous now and during his lifetime as a wit, aesthete, and master epigrammist, Wilde distinguished himself early on as a talented classical scholar, studying at Trinity College Dublin and Oxford and winning academic prizes and distinctions at both institutions. His undergraduate notebooks as well as his essays and articles on ancient topics reveal a mind engrossed in problems in classical scholarship and fascinated by the relationship between ancient and modern thought. His first publications were English translations of classical texts and even after he had 'left Parnassus for Piccadilly' antiquity continued to provide him with a critical vocabulary in which he could express himself and his aestheticism, an intellectual framework for understanding the world around him, and a compelling set of narratives to fire his artist's imagination. His debt to Greece and Rome is evident throughout his writings, from the sparkling wit of society plays like The Importance of Being Earnest to the extraordinary meditation on suffering that is De Profundis, written during his incarceration in Reading Gaol. Oscar Wilde and Classical Antiquity brings together scholars from across the disciplines of classics, ancient history, English literature, theatre and performance studies, and the history of ideas to explore the varied and profound impact that Graeco-Roman antiquity had on Wilde's life and work. This wide-ranging collection covers all the major genres of his literary output; it includes new perspectives on his most celebrated and canonical texts and close analyses of unpublished material, revealing as never before the enduring breadth and depth of his love affair with the classics.
