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SHAW 21 offers readers an eclectic perspective on Shaw, his works, and his contemporaries. Basil Langton, actor and director, reminisces about his early development as an actor, his meeting with Shaw, and his career as director of many of Shaw's plays. He focuses upon Shaw's stagecraft, augmenting his views with those of Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson, whom he interviewed in 1960. Galen Goodwin Longstreth analyzes the correspondence between Shaw and Ellen Terry and argues that the exchange is itself a literary genre, a dramatic performance that reveals their personal identities. The next two contributors, Stanley Weintraub and Andrea Adolph, examine the Shaw/Virginia Woolf relationship...
“A worthy successor to Fabian Feminist. Shaw’s influence on the self-image and public standing of women has been immense, both in his time and in our own, yet Shaw has also been widely and sometimes appallingly misunderstood. This book should help clarify the complexities of the issue and provoke continued reflection and debate.”—Julie A. Sparks, San Jose State University “This collection suggests that Shaw’s views of women are still relevant and provocative and that the dialogue with Shaw is far from over.”—Sally Peters, author of Bernard Shaw: The Ascent of the Superman When offstage actions contradict a playwright’s onstage message, literary study gets messy. In his pers...
SHAW 25 offers eighteen articles, thirteen initially presented at the International Shaw Society conference, 17-21 March 2004, Sarasota, Florida. Additional conference and Shaw Festival Symposia information is provided in the Introduction. Stanley Weintraub's conference keynote, "Shaw for the Here and Now," considers modernizing Shaw's plays, validating Shaw's creative force for today and into the future. Dan H. Laurence's delightful "Shaw's Children" shows a warm, caring, playful Shaw--a giver of self. Howard Ira Einsohn's article on gifting brings together Shaw, Ricoeur, and Derrida to explore the ethics of giving "superabundantly" but not foolishly. Jay Tunney reflects on the ways in whic...
The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Letters and Essays is a comprehensive collection showcasing the literary genius of Shaw through a variety of genres. From his groundbreaking plays like Pygmalion to his thought-provoking essays and insightful letters, this collection offers a glimpse into Shaw's diverse writing styles and ideas. Shaw's wit, satire, and social commentary are evident throughout his works, making this collection a must-read for fans of classic literature. In the context of early 20th-century British literature, Shaw's works stand out for their clever dialogue and sharp observations on society. His ability to blend humor with profound insights ...
Early 20th century non-commercial theaters emerged as hubs of social transformation on both sides of the Atlantic. The 1904-1907 seasons at London's Royal Court Theatre were a particularly galvanizing force, with 11 plays by Bernard Shaw--along with works by Granville Barker, John Galsworthy and Elizabeth Robins--that starred activist performers and challenged social conventions. Many of these plays were seen on American stages. Featuring more conversation than plot points, the new drama collectively urged audiences to recognize themselves in the characters. In 1908, four hundred actresses attended a London hotel luncheon, determined to effect change for women. The hot topics--chillingly pertinent today--mixed public and private controversies over sexuality, income distribution and full citizenship across gender and class lines. A resolution emerged to form the Actresses Franchise League, which produced original suffrage plays, participated in mass demonstrations and collaborated with ordinary women.
Shaw emerged as a playwright in the politically charged environment of 1892, for both female suffrage and Irish independence. His plays quickly advocated for societal changes with regard to women’s roles, while expanding this advocacy into considerations of Ireland. Shaw’s engagement with marriage and union as a personal contract with nationhood have never before been considered as a methodology with which to view his work. This book demonstrates that Shaw was deeply engaged with and committed to the Irish question and to social and gender issues.
Ethnicity, in general, and Britishness, in its specific insular version, forms a perpetual theme of G. B. Shaw’s most well known plays. The main body of the plays analysed in this book reveal a series of cultural and ethnic differences as the plays’ constitutive elements, comprising oppositions on the basis of which the plays are structured. Arms and the Man, The Devil’s Disciple, John Bull’s Other Island and Caesar and Cleopatra are works in which ethnicity is directly present, as a structuring element. The extension of the viewpoint to the more inclusive framework of Anglo-Saxon attitudes also allows for a play like Pygmalion to be included in the list of works discussed in the book. Britain and Britishness in G. B. Shaw’s Plays will be of considerable interest to those concerned with the interdisciplinary field of language and literature. It offers a fresh insight into the Shavian oeuvre by highlighting the aspects of ethnic identity and paradox from a linguistic perspective. The book offers an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to the Shavian plays as it integrates different fields of discourse analysis, cultural pragmatics and micro-sociolinguistics.
This special issue of Shaw offers ten articles that focus on the theme of "Shaw and History." That focus illuminates Shaw's concept of history as art and its uses for dramatic purposes. It is a focus that is broadly applied to the historical perspective. Views range from Shaw's uses of historical sources in the Shavianizing of history, his uses of historical, geographical, and political places and events in his work, to views that place selected Shavian works within a historical context. Stanley Weintraub discusses Shaw's references to Cetewayo, Zulu chieftain, in Cashel Byron's Profession as the first incorporation of a contemporary historical figure into his work. John Allett explores the ...