An English lecturer has written a novel version of an Oscar Wilde play.

Christopher Nassaar, who graduated from the University of Sussex in 1966, has turned Wilde's play The Importance Of Being Earnest into a novel by weaving in quotes from other parts of the author's work.

Now his new work has been published by Woodfield Publishing in Bognor.

Professor Nassaar has dedicated his academic life to the study of Wilde's work.

Thirty years ago he published an acclaimed critical study and he has also published 45 articles about Wilde.

He said: "I got tired of writing scholarly material and decided to try my hand at something different."

His career has taken him all over the world but until his retirement he worked for many years at the American University of Beirut in his home country of Lebanon.

He was asked to return to work at the university because of a shortage of lecturers.

He developed an interest in Wilde while studying for a PhD at the University of Wisconsin in the late Sixties, at the suggestion of his tutor.

He said: "Nobody was paying much attention to his work at the time so it was a good opportunity for me.

"Nowadays Wilde is wellknown but in the past he was considered to be a minor figure.

"I admire his work for its combination of humour and wit. His work contains a great deal of intellect too, but you have to dig for it."

He is now writing a sequel to Wilde's novel The Picture Of Dorian Gray.

He plans to return to Brighton next summer.

The book, Earnest Revisited, is available, priced £9.95, from www.woodfieldpublishing.com