Bernard Shaw: The Drama Observed [Hardcover]

Bernard F. Dukore (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

By common consent, Bernard Shaw is the best drama critic in the English language, and certainly the most incandescent. Shaw wrote about drama professionally for seventy-one years, from 1880, when he wrote a review of Henry Irving's production of The Merchant of Venice, to 1950, when he debated Terence Rattigan on ideas in the drama. Shaw commented on a wide range of drama, including that of ancient Greece, Elizabethan England, traditional Japan, and modern Europe; and he examined drama in the widest sense of the term, including pantomime plays and silent movies, radio and talking movies, and television. Among the characteristics of Shavian dramatic criticism is an astonishingly wide range of literary, social, and popular allusions whose sources Shaw does not usually announce but which The Drama Observed annotates. Shakespeare, Dickens, and the Bible appear most frequently, but Shaw also mentions a myriad of other sources. In one case, he compares Homer's description of the battle between Achilles and Asteropaios to an account of a boxing match in an 1859 magazine. In another, using a phrase that his readers would understand, he likens an actress's costume to that of a waitress in an Aerated Bread shop. A single paragraph in one review refers to the American debate about the gold and silver standards, a Dickensian character, a Scottish-American grammarian, a theologian, a Christian socialist, an art critic, and a fraudulent financier. Such references are annotated to provide today's readers a cultural context and a framework that explains Shaw's meaning. The Drama Observed contains 318 separate items, arranged chronologically, of which 100 are new to today's readers: 85 unpublished since their first, sometimes anonymous appearance, 12 published for the first time, and 3 published in full for the first time. Included are The Quintessence of Ibsenism and all Shaw's reviews published in The Saturday Review. A comprehensive essay introduces the seven decades of Shaw's criticism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bernard F. Dukore is University Distinguished Professor of Theatre Arts and Humanities at Virginia Tech and author of several books, including Money and Politics in Ibsen, Shaw, and Brecht (Missouri, 1980), Bernard Shaw, Playwright (Missouri, 1973), and Bernard Shaw, Director (Washington, 1971).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 346 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Txt) (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271008725
• ISBN-13: 978-0271008721
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,138,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Compendium of Shaw's Dramatic Criticism, April 14, 2010

By 

shavioctogenarian - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bernard Shaw: The Drama Observed (Hardcover)

BERNARD SHAW: THE DRAMA OBSERVED, masterfully edited and introduced by Bernard F. Dukore, was published by Pennsylvania State University Press in 1993. No paperback edition was issued, and the four-volume hardback was drastically overpriced. I couldn't afford it until a set popped up on E-Bay for $35. Every modern drama specialist should definitely own it, and theater buffs will cherish it or feel (unwisely) superior if they don't.

The 1600-plus-page compendium contains every significant piece of Shaw's drama commentary that Dukore, one of the foremost Shaw scholars, could locate. Of course it includes things readily available previously, such as THE QUINTESSENCE OF IBSENISM and the weekly drama reviews that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in the SATURDAY REVIEW, but even these are enhanced by illuminating footnotes. The hundreds of other drama criticisms that have been hard to come across are all here, again with valuable notes.

Search for a second-hand copy and keep on searching; it will pay off in the long run.