“Samuel Lyndon Gladden’s edition of The Importance of Being Earnest continues Broadview Press’s proven tradition of excellence. This book will serve the undergraduate, general reader, and scholar. Gladden’s introduction is provocative, and the ancillary materials are especially welcome. Gladden balances familiar with unexpected contemporary works — from Gilbert and Sullivan to Ada Leverson, playbills to reviews, poems to pictures, conduct ... Read moremanuals to dandy tracts — plus excerpts of Wilde’s writings, including an earlier version of the play. Bibliography and chronology complete the presentation as one-stop shopping for an earnest acquaintance with Wilde’s charmer as social text.” — Frederick S. Roden, University of Connecticut “Broadview’s Importance of Being Earnest carries on the press’s excellent series of texts for general readers and students alike. Samuel Lyndon Gladden presents the three-act text, as well as an appendix with important scenes and lines from the original four-act version. The volume includes many useful annotations and glosses, appendices with contextual information, illustrations, and extracts from letters and documents that will enhance understanding and interpretation of the play. The introduction places the play in up-to-date critical and biographical contexts, illuminating issues without closing down other approaches to making sense of Wilde’s carefully composed dramatic nonsense.” — Philip E. Smith, University of Pittsburgh Show Less