The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”
In today’s episode, we’re discussing The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, a delightfully witty play that explores the hypocrisies and social conventions of Victorian society and showcases Wilde’s genius penchant for humor.
JACK: I am sick to death of cleverness. Everybody is clever nowadays. You can't go anywhere without meeting clever people. The thing has become an absolute public nuisance. I wish to goodness we had a few fools left.
ALGERNON: We have.
JACK: I should extremely like to meet them. What do they talk about?
ALGERNON: The fools? Oh! about the clever people of course.
JACK: What fools.
This play satirizes gender dynamics, marriage, Victorian courting conventions, class, and living a double life—we covered it all in this episode. You don’t need to read the play in order to enjoy our commentary, but it’s so short, and we highly recommend it for a refreshing spring afternoon!
Listen to today’s episode wherever you get your podcasts, and while you’re there, will you please take two minutes to write a review? Reviews in Spotify and Apple Podcasts have a direct correlation to the podcast charts (based on our unscientific, completely anecdotal but pretty firm evidence and observations), and they also make our day!
ICYMI
We announced our Slow Down Summer Readalong last week! We’re reading Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, and we hope you’ll join us. Here’s a quick peek at the line-up:
Les Misérables is conveniently split into five sections, which we will recap over the summer for patrons in the $10 Literature Scholar tier. You can anticipate plot summaries, close reading, character analysis, and theme tracking in each recap as we guide you through this hefty novel. In addition to our recap episodes, you will find a vibrant community of nerdy readers eager to discuss their experiences along the way. In our Patreon Discord community, we share discussion prompts to go along with each recap episode. We’re busy planning exciting bonus episodes, classes, and book club events across the summer season, too!
On June 12, join us for a class on Tracking Themes Through LONG Novels. This will be an excellent primer full of practical tips to help you get the most out of our Les Misérables readalong.
On July 10th, we will provide an Introduction to Classic French Literature in order to place Les Misérables in its historical, cultural, and literary context.
Our August class is in the works, and we will let you know as soon as it’s cemented on the calendar.
You can find a complete recap schedule, including book club dates on Patreon.
More Wilde, please!
The World’s Leading Oscar Wilde Blog (Oscar Wilde in America)
A Trivial Blog Post for Serious People (New York Public Library)
Intentions by Oscar Wilde (Nonfiction)
The Myth of Oscar Wilde’s Martyrdom (The New Yorker)
De Profundis and Other Prison Writings by Oscar Wilde (Nonfiction)
The many faces of Oscar Wilde (Art UK)
We have loved reading The Importance of Being Earnest along with you this month! We’re really looking forward to discuss it further in book club on Patreon TONIGHT at 7pm EST. In May, we’ll be reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith.
Satirical spring continues for one more month!
Happy Reading,
Announcing Our Summer Readalong
Readers, we are thrilled to announce our Big Book for Summer 2024! This summer, we’re reading Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. This French classic in translation follows Jean Valjean, a reformed criminal turned politician, who is hunted by the villainous police inspector Javert and forced to decide between survival and self-sacrifice. Obviously, this is a…