Central Kansas Library System

Vera; or, The Nihilists (1880) is Oscar Wilde's first play. It features Russian revolutionaries who seek to assassinate a reform-minded Emperor, and is loosely based on the life of Vera Zasulich who shot the Governor of St. Petersburg in 1878. Contemporary events in Russia, as published in the British press of the time, clearly influenced the plot and characters. The first public performance of Vera; or, The Nihilists was in New York City in 1883...

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First performed in 1895, "An Ideal Husband" is Oscar Wilde's classic and much-loved comedic drama. The play tells the story of an up-and-coming politician, Sir Robert Chiltern, who tries to hide his secret past from his judgmental wife and the blackmail scheme he is forced to participate in to keep that secret quiet. Lady Chiltern has a very particular idea of what makes the "ideal husband" which leaves her with little tolerance for Sir Robert's all...

Intent on seducing a Christian man, Honorius, who lives in seclusion in the desert, Myrrhina, a noblewoman and famed temptress, travels to Honorius's retreat in pursuit of him. La Sainte Courtisane was nearly completed by Oscar Wilde before he was imprisoned, but the author mistakenly left his only copy of the manuscript in a taxicab, and was never able to recover it. The current version of the play is an incomplete fragment of that lost manuscript....

Four classic comedies from one of the greatest playwrights in Western literature: The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, An Ideal Husband, and A Woman of No Importance. Plus a masterful dramatization of Wilde's chilling novel, The Picture of Dorian Grey. Starring James Marsters, Jacqueline Bisset, Alfred Molina, Eric Stoltz, Roger Rees, and many more.

Contained in this volume are three of Oscar Wilde's shorter dramatic works. Vera, or the Nihilists, the longest of the three, is a complete four-act play with a prologue. A Florentine Tragedy-A Fragment, is as the title would suggest a fragment of an act and La Sainte Courtisane is also but a single act. Wilde fans will delight in these shorter examples of his talent as a dramatic humorist.

Lady Windermere misinterprets her husband's interest in an older woman, Mrs. Erlynne, causing a rift that could lead to both marital and societal ruin. Lady Windermere's Fan Is an intriguing tale that examines intention versus outcome in a world driven by perception. Lady Windermere is a young wife who's concerned by her husband's connection to the mysterious, Mrs. Erlynne. She believes the woman is a threat to her marriage and livelihood. Despite...

Oscar Wilde's play Salome is a twist on the execution of John the Baptist, fuelled by motives of lust and slaughter. Wilde's interpretation is deeply rooted in the Biblical story of Salome's dance to please Herod and her mother's plea for John the Baptist's head. Wilde's twist on the biblical story focuses on the personality of Salome and the hypersexual implications.

Written originally in French in 1892, Wilde's one-act tragedy Salome was translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas, inspired some of Aubrey Beardsley's finest illustrations, and served as the text (in abridged form) for Strauss' renowned opera of the same name. A masterpiece of the Aesthetic movement, it enacts the biblical tale of a wanton woman's erotic dance and the martyrdom of John the Baptist. This volume reprints the complete text of the...

The controversial comedic play from a master dramatist that shattered social conventions in England. Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners, has delighted millions with countless productions since its first performance at London's St. James' Theatre in 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but also for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating...