Customer Reviews

Bernard Shaw II: The Pursuit of Power

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

George Bernard Shaw and his wife Charlotte rented the Rectory at Ayot St. Lawrence for fourteen years and bought it shortly after Word War I. In the 1930's for electricity they made use of a private generating plant. They kept a maisonette at Adelphi Terrace, London. Charlotte Shaw was a nervous and furious traveler. Shaw preferred to remain in one place in order to do his work, but he could write on the move.

George Bernard Shaw infuriated people when he spoke to them with sweet forbearance. Shaw started his war against censorship in 1892. One of his techniques was to exploit censorship absurdities. When he was blocked his words surged out immoderately. By the way, his war against censorship was unsuccessful. The artists failed to present a unified front and failed to make a unified case. Shaw felt a strangeness. He was a sojourner on the planet rather than an inhabitant of it. He injected this note into his play CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA.

Shaw's marriage was a marriage blanc. His potency arose from his role in public life. By 1903 Shaw had written twelve plays and was almost totally unknown to British audiences. His wife felt that Shaw was not so much an artist as a reformer. She treated him as an employer and as a child.

Harley Granville Barker became a sort of imaginary child to Shaw and Charlotte. (Barker seemed to be all things to all people.) Shaw's plays found a home at the Court Theatre. Mrs. Patrick Campbell thrilled George Bernard Shaw. He wanted her for his play PYGMALION.

Shaw's mother died in 1913. His love for Stella Campbell intensified. PYGMALION marks the climax of Shaw's career as a writer of comedies. It has vitality and charm. The supposed model for Henry Higgins was Henry Sweet. In some respects the model for Henry Higgins was Shaw himself. Stella worked hard at Eliza Dolittle. During World War I Shaw was a pacifist who though ahead to the future.

This is the second of a four volume treatment of Shaw's life. The account is interesting and lively. I was surprised to learn at the Amazon site that this work, the other volumes of the series, and even the the one volume abridgement by the author, Michael Holroyd, have gone out of print. I daresay the problem is the relative unpopularity of George Bernard Shaw at this time. Certainly it cannot be the fault of the biography itself which is first rate.