Study Guide: The Importance of Being Earnest

This study guide was written by Anna Norcross, production dramaturg for the Dec. 2007 production of The Importance of Being Earnest at UMass Amherst, compiled by public relations director Anna-Maria Goossens and edited by professors Paul Walsh and Gina Kaufmann

Bibliography/For Further Reference

For Oscar Wilde: A Writer of Wit Raby, Peter. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Reader’s Companion. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1995.

For Aesthetes, Non-Aesthetes, and Others Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., s.v. “aesthete” & “aesthetic.”

For Shattering the Victorian Woman Stereotype “Courtship.” Victoria’s Past: 2001-2006. 9 Nov. 2007 .

Donohue, Joseph, with Ruth Berggren. Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest: A Reconstructive Critical Edition of the Text of the First Production: St. James’s Theater, London, 1895. Great Britain: Colin Smythe, 1995. Hoppe, Michelle J. “Courting the Victorian Woman.” 1998. 9 Nov. 2007 .