The Importance of Being Earnest Author:Oscar Wilde This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Edition includes a glossary and readers notes to help the modern reader appreciate Wilde's wry wit and elaborate plot twists. Oscar Wildes madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publi... more »cation and premiere performance. The rapid-fire wit and eccentric characters of The Importance of Being Earnest have made it a mainstay of the high school curriculum for decades. Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack Worthing has wooed Gewndolen as Ernest while Algernon has also posed as Ernest to win the heart of Jacks ward, Cecily. When all four arrive at Jacks country home on the same weekendthe "rivals" to fight for Ernests undivided attention and the "Ernests" to claim their belovedspandemonium breaks loose. Only a senile nursemaid and an old, discarded hand-bag can save the day!« less