George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science, commonly referred to as the London School of Economics, The LSE or simply LSE, is a specialist constituent college of the University of London in London, England. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidney Webb, Beatrice Webb and George Bernard Shaw, the School joined the federal. 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 Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do" (Classical Greek: δράω, drao). The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings deal sternly with prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy to make their stark themes more palatable. Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.
He was most angered by what he perceived as the exploitation of the working class, and most of his writings censure that abuse. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the. 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.
In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend Charlotte Payne-Townshend was a wealthy Anglo-Irish woman, member of the Fabian Society and dedicated to the struggle for women's rights. She married George Bernard Shaw in 1898 after nursing him through an illness. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence , a village in Hertfordshire, England (see Shaw's Corner), but traveled the world extensively, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence Ayot St Lawrence is a small village in Hertfordshire, between Harpenden and Welwyn. There are several other Ayots in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter in a house now called Shaw's Corner Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; now a historic National Trust property open to the public. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited. The house is an Edwardian Arts and Crafts-influenced structure situated in the. Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries he incurred by falling.
He is the only person to have been awarded both This is a list of Academy Award records. This list is current as of the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony held on March 7, 2010 a Nobel Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" (original Swedish: den som inom litteraturen har producerat det utmärktaste i idealisk riktning). The & (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller (adaption of his play of the same name), respectively.[1] Shaw wanted to refuse his Nobel Prize outright because he had no desire for public honours, but 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.[2]
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Life
George Bernard Shaw's Birthplace, Dublin.Early years and family
George Bernard Shaw was born in Synge Street, Dublin in 1856 to George Carr Shaw (1814–85), an unsuccessful grain merchant and sometime civil servant, and Lucinda Elizabeth Shaw, née Gurly (1830–1913), a professional singer. He had two sisters, Lucinda Frances (1853–1920), a singer of musical comedy and light opera, and Elinor Agnes (1855–76).
Education
Shaw briefly attended the Wesleyan Connexional School, a grammar school operated by the Methodist New Connexion, before moving to a private school near Dalkey Dalkey is a town located in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the points through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century. In modern times, Dalkey has become a prosperous seaside suburb and a minor and then transferring to Dublin's Central Model School. He ended his formal education at the Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School. He harboured a lifelong animosity toward schools and teachers, saying: "Schools and schoolmasters, as we have them today, are not popular as places of education and teachers, but rather prisons and turnkeys in which children are kept to prevent them disturbing and chaperoning their parents".[3] In the astringent prologue to Cashel Byron's Profession young Byron's educational experience is a fictionalized description of Shaw's own schooldays. Later, he painstakingly detailed the reasons for his aversion to formal education in his Treatise on Parents and Children.[4] In brief, he considered the standardized curricula useless, deadening to the spirit and stifling to the intellect. He particularly deplored the use of corporal punishment, which was prevalent in his time.
When his mother left home and followed her voice teacher, George Vandeleur Lee, to London London is a leading global city, the world's largest financial centre alongside New York, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Central London is home to the headquarters of most of the UK's top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe's 500 largest. London's influence and strengths in the arts, education, entertainment, fashion, finance,, Shaw was almost sixteen years old. His sisters accompanied their mother[5] but Shaw remained in Dublin with his father, first as a reluctant pupil, then as a clerk in an estate office. He worked efficiently, albeit discontentedly, for several years.[6] In 1876, Shaw joined his mother's London household. She, Vandeleur Lee, and his sister Lucy, provided him with a pound a week while he frequented public libraries and the British Museum The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present.[a] reading room where he studied earnestly and began writing novels. He earned his allowance by ghostwriting Vandeleur Lee's music column,[7][8] which appeared in the London Hornet. His novels were rejected, however, so his literary earnings remained negligible until 1885, when he became self-supporting as a critic of the arts.
Personal life and political activism
The front of Shaw's Corner as it stands todayInfluenced by his reading, he became a dedicated Socialist Socialism is an economic and political theory advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources and a charter member of the Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the,[9] a middle class organization established in 1884 to promote the gradual spread of socialism by peaceful means.[6] In the course of his political activities he met Charlotte Payne-Townshend Charlotte Payne-Townshend was a wealthy Anglo-Irish woman, member of the Fabian Society and dedicated to the struggle for women's rights. She married George Bernard Shaw in 1898 after nursing him through an illness. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence , a village in Hertfordshire, England (see Shaw's Corner), but traveled the world extensively, an Irish heiress and fellow Fabian; they married in 1898. In 1906 the Shaws moved into a house, now called Shaw's Corner Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; now a historic National Trust property open to the public. Inside the house, the rooms remain much as Shaw left them, and the garden and Shaw's writing hut can also be visited. The house is an Edwardian Arts and Crafts-influenced structure situated in the, in Ayot St. Lawrence Ayot St Lawrence is a small village in Hertfordshire, between Harpenden and Welwyn. There are several other Ayots in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter, a small village in Hertfordshire The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and Essex; it was to be their home for the remainder of their lives, although they also maintained a residence at 29 Fitzroy Square in London.
Shaw's plays were first performed in the 1890s. By the end of the decade he was an established playwright. He wrote sixty-three plays and his output as novelist, critic, pamphleteer, essayist and private correspondent was prodigious. He is known to have written more than 250,000 letters.[10] Along with Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the members Sidney and Beatrice Webb Martha Beatrice Webb was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and reformer, usually referred to in association with her husband, Sidney Webb. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield. She coined the term, collective bargaining and Graham Wallas Graham Wallas was an English socialist, social psychologist, educationalist, and a leader of the Fabian Society, Shaw founded the London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science, more commonly referred to as The London School of Economics or LSE, is a world leading specialist constituent college of the University of London in London, England, United Kingdom in 1895 with funding provided by private philanthropy, including a bequest of £20,000 from Henry Hunt Hutchinson to the Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British intellectual socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the. One of the libraries at the LSE is named in Shaw's honor; it contains collections of his papers and photographs.[11]
Final years
During his latter years, Shaw enjoyed attending to the grounds at Shaw's Corner. He died at the age of 94, of renal failure precipitated by injuries incurred by falling while pruning a tree.[12] His ashes, mixed with those of his wife, Charlotte Payne-Townshend Charlotte Payne-Townshend was a wealthy Anglo-Irish woman, member of the Fabian Society and dedicated to the struggle for women's rights. She married George Bernard Shaw in 1898 after nursing him through an illness. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence , a village in Hertfordshire, England (see Shaw's Corner), but traveled the world extensively, were scattered along footpaths and around the statue of Saint Joan in their garden.[13]
Career
Writings
The International Shaw Society provides a detailed chronological listing of Shaw's writings.[14] See also George Bernard Shaw, Unity Theatre.[15] View Shaw's Works for listings of his novels and plays, with links to their electronic texts, if those exist.
Criticism
Shaw became a critic of the arts when, sponsored by William Archer, he joined the reviewing staff of the Pall Mall Gazette The Pall Mall Gazette was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865. It was owned by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921 The Globe merged into the Pall Mall Gazette, which itself was absorbed into the Evening Standard in 1923 in 1885.[16] There he wrote under the pseudonym "Corno di Bassetto" ("basset horn The basset horn is a musical instrument, a member of the clarinet family")—chosen because it sounded European and nobody knew what a corno di bassetto was. In a miscellany of other periodicals, including Dramatic Review (1885–86), Our Corner (1885–86), and the Pall Mall Gazette (1885–88) his byline was "GBS".[17] From 1895 to 1898, Shaw was the drama critic for Frank Harris' Saturday Review, in which position he campaigned brilliantly to displace the artificialities and hypocrisies of the Victorian stage with a theater of actuality and thought. His earnings as a critic made him self-supporting as an author and his articles for the Saturday Review made his name well-known.
He had a very high regard for both Irish stage actor Barry Sullivan's and Johnston Forbes-Robertson's Hamlets The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius for murdering the old King Hamlet, Claudius's own brother and Prince Hamlet's father, and then, but despised John Barrymore John Sidney Blyth Barrymore was an American actor, frequently called the greatest of his generation. He first gained fame as a stage actor, lauded for his portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III. His success continued with motion pictures in both the silent and sound eras's. Barrymore invited him to see a performance of his celebrated Hamlet, and Shaw graciously accepted, but wrote Barrymore a withering letter in which he all but tore the performance to shreds. Even worse, Shaw had seen the play in the company of Barrymore's then wife, but did not dare voice his true feelings about the performance aloud to her.[18]
Much of Shaw's music criticism, ranging from short comments to the book-length essay The Perfect Wagnerite, extols the work of the German composer Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs:.[19] Wagner worked 25 years composing Der Ring des Nibelungen Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas or (to use the composer's preferred term) 'dramas' by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883). The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied. The four dramas, which the composer described as a trilogy with a Vorabend ('preliminary evening'), are, a massive four-part musical dramatization drawn from the Teutonic mythology of gods, giants, dwarves and Rhine maidens; Shaw considered it a work of genius and reviewed it in detail. Beyond the music, he saw it as an allegory of social evolution where workers, driven by "the invisible whip of hunger", seek freedom from their wealthy masters. Wagner did have socialistic sympathies, as Shaw carefully points out, but made no such claim about his opus. Conversely, Shaw disparaged Brahms Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897), was a German composer and pianist, one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his lifetime, Brahms' popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment, deriding A German Requiem by saying "it could only have come from the establishment of a first-class undertaker".[20] Although he found Brahms lacking in intellect, he praised his musicality, saying "...nobody can listen to Brahms' natural utterance of the richest absolute music, especially in his chamber compositions, without rejoicing in his natural gift". In the 1920s, he recanted, calling his earlier animosity towards Brahms "my only mistake".[19] Shaw's writings about music gained great popularity because they were understandable to the average well-read audience member of the day, thus contrasting starkly with the dourly pretentious pedantry of most critiques in that era.[21] All of his music critiques have been collected in Shaw's Music.[22] As a drama critic for the Saturday Review, a post he held from 1895 to 1898, Shaw championed Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the godfather" of modern drama and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His plays were considered scandalous to many of his era, when Victorian values of family life and propriety largely held sway in Europe whose realistic plays scandalized the Victorian public. His influential Quintessence of Ibsenism was written in 1891.[23]
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Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:09:26 GMT+00:00
News Chief Reynolds has a Ph.D. in English from the University of South Florida and is the author of "Pygmalion's Wordplay," a postmodern study of George Bernard Shaw . ...
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as time goes by and the less I m able to keep up with them the smarter I ll believe them both to be
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:07:05 PST
George Bernard Shaw Defends Hitler Mass Murder Upload, share, download and embed your videos. Watch premium and official videos free online ... vidoemo.com.
