| The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde Here is a rare thing -- a comedy that is enough in and of itself. It is funny-- genuinely funny, without being naughty or "sophisticated" or cynical, without being overly goofy, without being sad at the same time, or profound, or stupid. It is light without making you wish it was deeper or think maybe it is and you missed it somehow. I was forced to read a fair number of comedies throughout English lit classes, and my clearest memory was that most jokes, though alive on stage, are dead on the page. Even in Shakespeare, often. Here, though, I really was laughing, enjoying the wordiness and wit. Makes me really wish and hope to see it performed someday. The word that comes to mind is pure. Like if there really are Platonic forms, essences of things, this is the platonic form of comedy. Or at least approaches it more closely than anything else I've ever read. It's simple. It's short. It's beautiful -- in that it is fully formed within itself, wanting nothing, leaving nothing. It's a classic. |