Help identify this book/movie.

April 19, 2005 10:57 PM

Help us identify this book/movie: The only thing we can remember is something along the lines of, "Losing one parent was understandable, but losing two just seemed careless." I seem to remember it's from one of those British children's fantasy novels that start with the kid's parents dying off — or from a parody of one of those novels? But really, we're both just stumped.
posted by nebulawindphone to media & arts (7 comments total)

James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl? Need more detail...
posted by alteredcarbon at 11:03 PM on April 19, 2005

it's Oscar Wilde - from The Importance of Being Earnest
posted by forallmankind at 11:04 PM on April 19, 2005

Ah! I think forallmankind may be right — I probably remembered the Britishness and fabricated the "children's fantasy" part to go with it. But Wilde sounds right, and we did watch a film version of that not long ago.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:07 PM on April 19, 2005

comes up as first result if you google for: "losing two" parents careless
posted by juv3nal at 11:09 PM on April 19, 2005

Lady Bracknell: "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Who was your father? He was evidently a man of some wealth. Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy?"

Act 1 Part 2, The Importance of Being Earnest
posted by nanojath at 11:14 PM on April 19, 2005

I believe this also may have been quoted in the movie version of "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events".
posted by Asparagirl at 1:27 AM on April 20, 2005

Yes, it's also in the first Lemony Snicket book.
posted by chota at 7:22 AM on April 20, 2005