Saint Joan (Penguin Classics)

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Joan of Arc, born in 1412, was burned at the stake in 1431, canonized by the Catholic Church in 1920, and, like most saints, whitewashed by history. Canonization tends to strip a saint of supposedly un-Christian attributes such as rebelliousness, pride, and intolerance. And Joan, despite having been a stubborn, haughty, naive, even foolish girl, has for much of history been remembered only as a pious martyr. However, George Bernard Shaw's play, Saint Joan, completed in 1925, began the modern rehabilitation of the icon as a fully human, fallible character--not to mention a poster girl for teenage rebellion and feminism. Shaw's Joan, like the real Maid of Orleans, leads the fight to drive the English out of her native France, insists on direct communication with her God instead of submitting to the mediation of Catholic priests, and refuses to dress, speak, or act according to traditional notions of how women were expected to behave. Until the closing scene of Shaw's play, however, neither Joan nor her foes are cast in neatly heroic terms. Both are earnestly pursuing their partial visions of the truth. In the play's famous epilogue, Shaw suggests that even 400 years later, most of us are so limited by our own perspectives that we are unable to tell the difference between a saint and a heretic. "O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints?" Joan asks, preparing for her death. "How long, O Lord, how long?" --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

With Saint Joan, Shaw reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc (canonized in 1920), but unhappy with "the whitewash which disfigures her beyond recognition," he presents a realistic Joan: proud, intolerant, naïve, foolhardy, always brave-a rebel who challenged the conventions and values of her day.

Customer Reviews:

Saint Joan on audio tape.......2007-02-09

Audio recordings of plays are usually done with different actors reading the roles as in a radio play. This is the first time I have listened to a play being read by only one reader. It is not at all the same experience, but better than one might expect. The reader uses a neutral American accent for the French characters, but a slightly British one to differentiate the English characters. There was a recording on Caedmon of the play with Siobhan McKenna repeating her famous performance, but it is not available. (Some libraries still have it on vinyl, but that doesn't help me pass the time while commuting.)

Shaw's play is intriguing, coming as it did so soon after Joan's canonization and Ireland's war for independence ("France for the French"), but there is no denying that is rather untheatrical, save for the climactic scene. Joan confesses to her supposed sins to save her life, but then withdraws the confession, choosing execution and martydom. I had never realized how much Arthur Miller owed to Shaw; I was reminded of the scene in The Crucible when John Proctor confesses to a lie and then recants, preferring an honorable death. These scenes are both based on historical events, of course, but the resemblance in the way they are dramatized is striking nonetheless. Here's a potential trivia topic: How many plays and movies can you think of that use the device of a false confession followed by an even more dramatic retraction?

Shaw never misses a chance to make a good point........2006-02-23

I have seen this performed, I have read it and I have heard it on a tape from Books on Tape for the Blind and Disabled. I loved it every time. I agree fully with Shaw that the Catholic Church has gotten a bad rap over Joan. When you listen to her words she was espousing overt Protestant beliefs -- God can, should and will speak to one person, individually and doesn't require a mediator like the Pope or Mary or any of the saints.

I actually got the most out of this play by hearing it on a tape from Books on Tape for the Blind and Disabled. I was able to speed the tape up and suddenly the wimpy, silly voices of the court officials came out perfectly. The farce inside the tragedy revealed itself clearly.

Shaw is brilliant and astute -- but no one needs me to tell them that!

Drama Instead of History.......2005-12-11

This is George Bernard Shaw's most important work. A successful drama that has enjoyed continuous popularity for nearly eighty years is worth a read. Most audiences find it very satisfying. Shaw has a gift for lucid dialogue that brings a centuries old story to life. This is one of the most approachable of the great English language plays.

Why then does "Saint Joan" fall short of five stars?

Fictional accounts of Joan of Arc's life are numerous and seldom accurate. Shakespeare makes her a witch. Voltaire makes her an idiot. Schiller makes her admirable - and gives her a magical helmet that protects her from harm until she falls in love.

In a rare exception to his usual satirical style, Mark Twain spent months in France researching her life and published a fictional biography. Readers who enjoy accurate historical fiction would do well with Twain's "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc." Twain considered this - not "Huckleberry Finn" - to be his finest work.

Shaw pays far more attention to accuracy than most fictionalizations. Several lines in the play are Shaw's own translations from her trial transcript. Shaw's long introductory essay aspires to be history as well as drama. Most scholars agree with his assessment of Joan of Arc's socioeconomic background. Shaw acknowledges a few dramatic economies: he combines the historical Jean d'Orleans and Duke Jean d'Alencon into a single character. What causes problems are Shaw's unacknowledged deviations from the factual record.

Shaw argues that Joan of Arc was a forerunner of Protestantism who got a fair trial. Among serious scholars this argument gains no credibility. A surviving letter from the English government that financed the trial guaranteed her execution even if the court found her not guilty. Joan of Arc never rejected the Roman Catholic Church: she rejected the authority of politically biased judges bent on discrediting her and, by inference, on discrediting the king she had crowned. Twenty-four years after her death the Pope reopened the case. The appeals court not only found her innocent but discovered such extensive violations of proper court procedure that it accused the late Bishop Cauchon of heresy.

Shaw's choice works as drama rather than as history yet he advocates it on historical grounds. He might be sincere but he is certainly not honest. To an academic scholar who has explained the facts to umpteen Shaw enthusiasts the difference can be infuriating. This is why "Saint Joan" collects a handful of scathing reviews.

A reader who understands this little shell game with history should have a lively time with the drama. If this is your first reading of "Saint Joan" then I envy you. Nothing quite equals the first encounter.

Wisdom.......2003-12-08

What has most stuck in my mind, many years after having read Shaw's book, is the fact that it's more logical to think of Joan as a protestant saint, instead of Catholic, when one considers how she rejected the Catholic Church's authority and was, naturally, rejected in turn.

He makes a very good point when he says that, right as that Church was to ban her on those grounds, nothing could give it the moral right (or any other right, for that matter) to condemn a woman who disagreed with it on matters of faith. In all fairness, they should have simply excommunicated her and said: "If you think you have a better idea, then you go ahead and create your own Church".

It may be a thoroughly idealistic point of view of course, too democratic for that age (perhaps any age), but nonetheless it strikes me as completely fair.
If you like a club but object to some of its rules, and that club isn't willing to change for your sake, they may have the right to throw you out, just as you may have the right to start a new one on your own - but they shouldn't be given the right to take away your life for having dared to challenge their concepts.

This lesson has stayed with me and I recommend this book for the wisdom it contains.

Shaw's "Saint Joan".......2002-07-02

In one surviving account, Joan of Arc was quoted as saying that her judges were merely putting her on trial because they were members of the pro-English faction and therefore her "capital enemies"; unfortunately, this play tries to claim otherwise. One of Shaw's primary themes is the notion that Pierre Cauchon and Joan's other judges were acting as "sincere" defenders of the Church in their prosecution of her, a view which is contradicted by document after document as well as the above quote from Joan herself. Cauchon and his cronies are well known to historians as having been long-term supporters of the English and Burgundian factions, and the eyewitnesses said repeatedly that they prosecuted Joan out of revenge for the defeats that their side had suffered at the hands of her army, rather than out of any genuine belief that she was guilty of heresy. Cauchon even allowed her to take final communion (which was never done in the case of heretics), indicating that even he didn't truly believe the charges against her. As Shaw was aware, these charges were soundly debunked when the case was appealed after the English were finally driven from Rouen in 1449; and the arguments put forward in this ruling have been confirmed as accurate by experts in medieval theology and canon law, whereas Cauchon's arguments can easily be refuted by consulting medieval theological works - his arguments are, at best, merely distortions of what the medieval Church actually taught. Here are some specific examples which factored prominently in Shaw's play:
- Shaw, like Cauchon, claimed that Joan was guilty of heresy for wearing male clothing allegedly as a personal preference, despite the fact that both of these men were aware of her own statements to the contrary. She was quoted as saying that she wore soldiers' clothing (of a type which had "laces and points" by which the pants and tunic could be securely tied together) primarily to protect herself, as her guards had tried to rape her on several occasions; this reason is also given in some of the 15th century chronicles, along with similar quotes from Joan herself on the need to protect her chastity while surrounded by the men in her army. The medieval Church allowed an exemption in such cases of necessity (read St. Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologica", or St. Hildegard's "Scivias", for example): the practice of so-called "cross-dressing" was only condemned if it was done as a preference. Shaw rejects all of the above based on the specious argument that the "other women" who accompanied armies in that era didn't wear such clothing, ignoring the fact that these "other women" were: 1) prostitutes, who wore provocative dresses because they were trying to encourage sexual encounters rather than the opposite; and 2) aristocratic women sometimes were given command of their family's armies in the absence of their husband or son, but these women did not bed down at night among the troops in the field, as Joan often did. Shaw chooses to ignore these circumstances.
- On a somewhat related subject, Shaw tries to portray her as a rebel against "gender norms", again ignoring her own statements and the circumstances of the era. She was quoted by one eyewitness as saying that, quote, "I would rather stay home with my poor mother and spin wool [rather than lead an army]", which hardly sounds like someone who is trying to reject traditional gender roles. When another woman, Catherine de la Rochelle, wanted to get involved, Joan told her to "go home to your husband and tend your household". At no point do we find her making any 'feminist' statements. She was given titular command of an army for the same reason other religious visionaries sometimes were given such a role in that era, not as part of a "feminist crusade".
- Shaw admits that Joan was a devout Catholic and yet claims her as "the first Protestant martyr" - in the same sentence. This seems to be a rather willful contradiction, and the claim of "Protestant tendencies" is merely based, once again, on the old business of accepting Cauchon's claims about her at face value while ignoring the circumstances. If you read the documents you will find that Joan never opposed the Church as a whole: she merely stated her objection to being tried by a panel of pro-English clergy, and repeatedly asked to be given a non-partisan group instead or to be brought before the Pope. It was a violation of Inquisitorial procedure to stack the panel of assessors with people who were pursuing a secular vendetta against the accused: what Cauchon and his cohorts were doing, as Inquisitor Brehal later pointed out during the appeal, was itself an act of heresy. The notion that the medieval Church viewed all Inquisitorial panels as "infallible" and therefore not open to question is just a stereotype, bluntly contradicted by actual medieval theological writings: St. Hildegard, in her 12th century book "Scivias", warns the clergy against judging someone in error or out of anger, as it would be the offending clergy who would be punished for it by God. Joan was perfectly within her rights, even under the rules of the medieval Church, to question her biased judges, and was declared a martyr for Catholicism by Inquisitor Brehal when her execution was declared invalid in 1456. Shaw ignores this. The claim that his play is somehow vindicated by the fact that it was "vetted" by one Catholic (out of the hundreds of millions of Catholics worldwide) is a pointless argument: there are "Catholics" who claim that Joan was having adulterous sex, and all sorts of defamatory allegations. The bottom line is: this play does little more than repeat the slander leveled at Joan by the men who cruelly put her to death, despite the work of generations of scholars to bring a more accurate picture of the issue to light.

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Really interesting !
Pygmalion Rocks!
Incredible Wit and Social Commentary: A Great Play With Importance Today
From Rags to Riches
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Pygmalion (Penguin Classics)
George Bernard Shaw
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141439505
Release Date: 2003-02-04

Book Description

Shaw radically reworks Ovid's tale with a feminist twist: while Henry Higgins successfully teaches Eliza Doolittle to speak and act like a duchess, she adamantly refuses to be his creation. First produced in 1914, it remains one of Shaw's most popular plays.

The Definitive Text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence
With an Introduction by Nicholas Grene

Customer Reviews:

Really interesting !.......2007-07-28

This is probably the best edition of one of the best plays ever written ! A very interesting play criticizing society, and what is written in this play is timeless ; it applies to every society through the ages ! I really love it ! Just buy it and read to discover the truth hidden in every society.

Pygmalion Rocks!.......2007-06-08

T. Cook writes: A true "diamond in the rough," Pygmalion is one of the cleverest and underrated plays written. Shaw conveys the faulty class system of Europe through the memorable Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. Eliza, a cockney girl from the poor part of London, has trademark accent and original sounds, like "Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo." Despite her poor living conditions, she is able to retain her honor and good character. She often repeats "I'm a good girl, I am." This shows that she is not willing to sell her own body and sacrifice her integrity in order to get by. Henry Higgins, in comparison, is on the higher end of the class scale. His ability to replicate any sound and to place a man within any part of London demonstrates his expertise in his field. He uses vulgar words, however, like "bloody," "devil," and "damned." He is also oblivious to his faults such as his anger and foul language. The differences in characterization show the problems with the class system; the high moral characters are in the lower class while vulgar characters are found in the high class.
While the general population is not as familiar with Pygmalion as it is with My Fair Lady, Pygmalion is superior to its movie counterpart. First, Eliza's strong accent is more evident in the play due to the strange spelling of words; the confusion of the reader in deciphering these words mirror the Londoners' confusion in listening to Eliza. Second, Rex Harrison does not fully convey the volatile nature of Higgins; Higgins in Pygmalion is capable of going from happy to furious within one line and Harrison's emotions are similar to that of a wall.

I highly recommend Pygmalion because it is a classic that is enjoyable to read and better crafted than its more famous movie adaptation.

Incredible Wit and Social Commentary: A Great Play With Importance Today.......2006-07-05

George Bernard Shaw uses of wit and insight into England's 1800s arrogant class system to show class is not bred, but made, and the highest class of people see no class at all, being humble enough to know we are equals. Shaw's "Pygmalion" was not written just to add to his wallet with its publication, but to influence society, much the same as Charles Dickens "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield" have.

As fun as the musical, "My Fair Lady" is, read Shaw's take on this old Greek myth.

From the plot of whether or not a pauper can made a princess to the subplot of love and true romance, the story is intertwined with memorable characters, delightful banter and intriguing thoughts.

Shaw's understanding of English's accents and how these separated the masses (do they still?) causes me in America to wonder if my Chicago-istic pronunciations affect how I am seen. What about African-American accents, or the New England accents? Does a Kentucky girl's accent come across as higher or lower class than her Alabama neighbors? How do I see others? Am I as affected?

Drop down a little cash, sneak this book into a larger order, and read, "Pygmalion." Review Edith Hamilton's book on mythology, discover who Shaw refers to (as in Galatea and Pygmalion, a fascinating story in its own right).

I fully recommend "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

From Rags to Riches.......2005-07-13

This is a wonderful play to read. Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering make a bet that they can take a poor flower girl, Eliza Doolitle, and pass her off as a duchess. The pair teaches her perfect English, manners, and how to dress like a lady. They succeed, but they don't realize Eliza has her own opinions. This play is great because you really get a feel for the early Victorian era and Shaw's feminist views.

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.......2004-10-04

I thought that this book was a thoroughly enjoyable read. The book depicts the common belief of the people in early 20th century London that appearance and stature is far more important than education or beliefs. This belief, although not as extreme today, is still held by many. Shaw uses the two extremes of society at that time to tell a truly fascinating story of a young, poor woman, Eliza Doolittle, who is transformed into a lady of high class and style by a professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins. Although it is a play and it is difficult to know the characters' thoughts, Shaw details their actions to the point that allows the reader to feel they know the characters and feel like they were actually a part of the story. Shaw's combination of humor and expression of feeling perfectly offset each other so that the book never bores the reader. This book is a fairly easy read and gives the reader an accurate account of life in early 20th century London.

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Controversy?
Pure Bergsonism
Don Juan, in the 20th century
Don Juan, in the 20th century
a philosphical comedy

Man and Superman (Penguin Classics)
George Bernard Shaw
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140437886
Release Date: 2001-01-02

Amazon.com

How tantalizing to hear Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, Schindler's List) but not be able to see him! And hear him one does in his role as Jack Tanner, the antihero of Shaw's 1905 classic drama Man and Superman. Fiennes is a veritable mouthpiece--and a frequently sarcastic one at that--for the burning issues on Shaw's philosophical and social laundry list: the state of the English working class, the arms race, women's rights, unwed mothers, the evils of industry and capitalism, and English morality in general. The seriousness of the discussions is tempered by delightful Shavian wit ("There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it."), which prevents the dialogue from collapsing under its own weight, although it does teeter at times. The four-act play, directed by the esteemed Peter Hall for BBC Radio, begins in the English countryside and ends in the mountains of Spain after a curious detour to Hell, where, in act 3, the famous dream sequence unfolds and the main characters take on such roles as Don Juan and the Devil to further hash out the meaning of existence, the definition of life force, and the power of the female sex. This is a spirited production of Shaw's imperfect but intellectually challenging work. (Running time: 225 min; four cassettes)

Book Description

In this caustic satire of romantic conventions, Shaw provides a wonderfully original twist on the Don Juan myth. A finely tuned combination of intellectual seriousness and popular comedy, Man and Superman (1905) articulates a recurrent theme in Shaw's writing: the notion that man is the spiritual creator and woman, the biological life force that inevitably triumphs in the eternal battle of the sexes.

Customer Reviews:

Controversy?.......2006-09-06

Shaw has packed many high-level topics into this play, while at the same time keeping long portions of the dialogue fairly low-level. Two topics jump out most frequently: hell and enjoyment. His take on each respective topic is fresh, seemingly from an entirely new perspective.

In the third act, the characters' conversation stands out in a couple ways. The explanation of hell from Don Juan, the Statue, and The Devil's point of view is unique. From a Judeo-Christian standpoint, it reeks of blasphemy, twisting around the traditional views to show things as they really are: The devil finally gets to tell his side of the story; heaven is boring; anyone can go between the two afterlives whenever they please. What is interesting is that Shaw's hell can fit with the Judeo-Christian/Biblical facts, something that the blasphemy police certainly will not give any credence to or spend any time investigating. His idea that heaven and hell are created for those who are going there matches perfectly with Biblical theology. A person not living in the grace of Jesus would hate heaven just as much as a person living in his grace would hate hell. Biblical theologians would not agree (if one could get them to listen) that people can choose their own eternity, nor would they agree with the concept of non-believers enjoying themselves in hell, even if one could get them to voice their belief that they will be given over to all the desires of their flesh.

What is fascinating about Shaw's hell is just that idea - that if life is about your passions and enjoyment (namely, the flesh) then your afterlife will be personal to those same passions and enjoyment. At this point, the conservative Judeo-Christians would be sharpening their inquisition equipment in a fervent rage because much of the play speaks to that idea of personal enjoyment during life, specifically the English. Don Juan says that humans live to try to understand life more but later adds to that idea by saying that understanding only helps us to know that we are enjoying ourselves. Life then becomes the pursuit of enjoyment, and hell mimics that pursuit as a sort of eternal amusement park. In a statement that seems like a pre-response to his opponent's case, Don Juan then says that although he spent his whole life looking for pleasure, he never found it. If it could ever happen, it is that response which could appease the frantic theologians. The devil, being the father of lies has pulled the eternal wool over everyone's eyes, both the living and the dead, and has gotten them to abandon their real purpose.

Shaw's flirtation with both sides of the controversy is what allows this play such success. He angers both the proponents and opponents of Christian "myths" and then offers possible solutions to appease both sides.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

Pure Bergsonism.......2001-02-12

George Bernard Shaw was called, with good reason, the "English Nietzsche". Though Nietzsche was an aristocrat and Shaw a socialist, both cherished the dream of the superman and looked forward to the day when he would be realised. Both, however, were characterised by their mordant wit and intellectual cynicism, in which "Man and Superman" abounds. Shaw manages to compress a number of disparate themes into a relatively taut dramatic format, even throwing in a scene in which Don Juan, the Devil and a gang of anarchist brigands make an appearance. The central event of the plot involves the wealthy Tanner, a member of the "Idle Rich Class" making himself subservient to the Life Force and seeking the perfect woman to marry, who would guarantee him a very special offspring, his ideal, the superman himself. Though Shaw was not known to have read the works of Bergson at that time, nor to have been conversant with his vitalist doctrine of the Life Force, his use of the Life Force motif and the philosophical underpinnings of the play attest to a pure Bergsonism. The most delightful part, however, is the "Revolutionist's Handbook" at the end, which contains Shaw's most scandalous anti-Establishment jibes. For instance, "Do not do unto others as you would them do unto you. They might not have the same taste."

Don Juan, in the 20th century.......2000-01-06

In this title, G.B. Shaw outdoes himself. Not only does he manage to turn up with a Don Juan play in our modern day and age, which is full of cynicism, and doesn't give in to 'medieval' codes of behaviour, but he even manages to turn around the table. Here, the hunter becomes the hunted, forced to flee from his pursued/pursuer. Shaw includes in this play an ingenious conversation between the original 15th century characters, which not only explains about Don Juan's philosophy, but shines a new light upon our own lives, here and today.

Don Juan, in the 20th century.......2000-01-06

a philosphical comedy.......1998-10-13

The writings of Bernard Shaw in this particulat play, invites to you use your mind to understand life and philosphy. It has such great insight into many aspects of human nature and at the same time is exteremely funny and really takes you into it's pages. The writing has impecable style and this is truly a classic play.

Shaw, The Letters of George Bernard: Volume 1 (Bernard Shaw Collected Letters)

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Shaw, The Letters of George Bernard: Volume 1 (Bernard Shaw Collected Letters)
George Bernard Shaw
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670805432

George Bernard Shaw's Plays (Norton Critical Editions)

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George Bernard Shaw's Plays (Norton Critical Editions)
George Bernard Shaw
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393977536

Book Description

This collection presents a cross-section of Shaw's most important theater work—Mrs. Warren's Profession, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, and Pygmalion. Each play is fully annotated.

"Contexts and Criticism" features all-new material on the author and his work, from traditional critical readings to more theorized approaches, among them essays on Shaw's Fabianism and his alleged feminism. Contributors include Leon Hugo, Sally Peters, Tracy C. Davis, John A. Bertolini, Stanley Weintraub, and J. Ellen Gainor.
A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.

Book Description

Voice-Overs is an insider's guide to voicing radio and television commercials. Bernard Graham Shaw draws upon his nearly 20 years of voice-work experience to teach valuable studio skills, such as how far away to stand from a microphone, and offers practical advice on how to build a voice-over career. The book includes scripts written for advertisements, documentaries, and training films, as well as helpful tips on interpreting your lines and looking after your voice. Voice-Overs also features a comprehensive list of on-line resources and contact addresses, an extensive glossary of voice-over terms, and free CD with backing tracks that can be used with the scripts in the book to make your own demo tape.

Customer Reviews:

Voice-Overs is EXCELLENT!.......2002-10-26

I found this book and the accompanying CD extremely helpful in timing, do's and dont's and how to slow down or speed up to fit in a spot. The accompanying jingles and examples are fantastic!

So You 've Got A Nice Voice.......2001-11-24

This book makes it clear that having a 'nice voice' is as much a guarantee of geting voice-over work as 'having two hands' is a guarantee of being a famous concert pianist.

The book is very detailed and thorough with many examples of scripts for the reader to try out. There is also a free CD with the book which has examples of good and bad voice-overs together with many backing tracks and jingles to accompany the scripts in the book.

Book Description

In Mrs. Warren's Profession, Arms and the Man, Candida, and Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw satirizes society, military heroism, marriage, and the pursuit of man by woman. From a social, literary, and theatrical standpoint, these four plays are among the foremost dramas of the age-as intellectually stimulating as they are humorous.

Customer Reviews:

The best of GBS.......2001-03-02

This should be required reading just for the "Don Juan in Hell" act of Man and Superman --an excerpt "Your friends are all the dullest dogs I know. They are not beautiful: they are only decorated. They are not clean: they are only shaved and starched. They are not dignified: they are only fashionably dressed. They are not educated: they are only college passmen. They are not religious: they are only pewrenters. They are not moral: they are only conventional. They are not virtuous: they are only cowardly...."

One of my science teachers recited this famous speech in the lab one day, just to show off, and I started appreciating Shaw. Funny thing is that of all the playwrights, GBS is the best just to read. Except for Pygmalion and maybe Arms and the Man, most of Shaw's plays are too "talky" to stage well, but read like short stories. If you haven't read them, you are in for a treat.

A Good Shaw Overview.......2000-05-23

This would be an excellent collection to have for anyone looking for a taste of Shaw's basic philosophies about socialism--and of course, a good way of finding out how his writing suits you.

Some thought provoking social statements are made in all four plays, though some of the prefaces might be more informative about the author than the plays themselves. Great witticisms and depsite the sometimes heavy philosophy, the reading is light and quick. The last play, Man And Superman, perhaps his most significant play in terms of philosophy, pure and simple, would be fun reading but the socialist's handbook given at the end would definitely not be everyone's cup of tea, unless they're philosophy students. This can be skipped without spoiling the play though, which contains some of the most excellent dialogue I've come across in a play with philosophical overtones.

All Oscar Wilde and Chesterton lovers would appreciate the epigrams and the witty one-liners. If for nothing else, Shaw is worth reading for his lovely style of execution, the flowing conversations and some uncanny insight.

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