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The Portable Bernard Shaw

george bernard shaw stanley weintraub

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Contents:
The devil's disciple --
Don Juan in hell (from Man and superman) --
Pygmalion (with preface) --
Heartbreak house (with preface) --
In the beginning (with extracts from the preface to Back to Methuselah) --
The adventures of the black girl in her search for God --
Shakes versus Shav

698 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1977

This edition

Format
698 pages, Paperback
Published
September 29, 1977 by Penguin Books
ISBN
ASIN
B0DSZQPGMQ
Language
English

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About the author

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george bernard shaw

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George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, socialist, and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama. Over the course of his life he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his plays address prevailing social problems, but each also includes a vein of comedy that makes their stark themes more palatable. In these works Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.

An ardent socialist, Shaw was angered by what he perceived to be the exploitation of the working class. He wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthy lifestyles. For a short time he was active in local politics, serving on the London County Council.

In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner.

He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). The former for his contributions to literature and the latter for his work on the film "Pygmalion" (adaptation of his play of the same name). Shaw wanted to refuse his Nobel Prize outright, as he had no desire for public honours, but he accepted it at his wife's behest. She considered it a tribute to Ireland. He did reject the monetary award, requesting it be used to finance translation of Swedish books to English.

Shaw died at Shaw's Corner, aged 94, from chronic health problems exacerbated by injuries incurred by falling.

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Rating(3 / 5.0, 2 votes)
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
APHpoland
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is not a Shaw omnibus; most of Shaw's plays, with the exceptions of Pygmalion, the Devil's Disciple, and Heartbreak House, are not in this volume. Instead, there is a sampling of Shaw's musical criticism, correspondence, and other essays. GBS was witty in all his interactions, so the book is enjoyable, but not everything in here is a gem. Devoting significant attention to "The Black Girl In Search of God," while somewhat illuminating as to Shaw's odd theology, did not make for an enjoyable read.
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
inuyashaxears
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Bought it from a table in Greenwich Village for $3, and read it on trains throughout Europe. Please, at least once in your life, have this experience with a book.
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