- Oscar Wilde" s legendary wit dazzles in "The Importance of Being Earnest", one of the greatest and most popular works of drama to emerge from Victorian England. A light-hearted satire of the absurdity of all forms and conventions, this comic masterpiece features an unforgettable cast of characters who, as critic Max Beerbohm observed, "speak a kind of beautiful nonsense - the language of high comedy, twisted into fantasy". This collection also includes Oscar Wilde" s most famous comedies, "Lady Windermere" s Fan", "A Woman of No Importance", and "An Ideal Husband", as well as his poetic tragedy "Salomé " - all written between 1891 and 1895, Wilde" s most creative period. George Bernard Shaw said of Oscar Wilde that he is "our most thorough playwright. He plays with everything: with wit, with philosophy, with drama, with actors and audience, with the whole theater".