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Bernard Shaw's Plays: Major Barbara, Heartbreak House, Saint Joan, Too True to Be Good;
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- ISBN-100393099423
- ISBN-13978-0393099423
- PublisherW W Norton & Co Inc
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 1970
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions5.25 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
- Print length494 pages
Product details
- Publisher : W W Norton & Co Inc (January 1, 1970)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 494 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0393099423
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393099423
- Item Weight : 1.19 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.25 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,544,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #193,417 in Textbooks
- Customer Reviews:
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Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that the "full Norton treatment" falls a bit short in this case. For reasons that Smith never even attempts to explain, the plays have all been reproduced here without the Prefaces that Shaw wrote to accompany them in print. Surely nothing Smith can offer up here in the way of "backgrounds and criticism" can compare with Shaw's analysis of his own work! Several of the Prefaces are repeatedly quoted and referred to in the critical essays, which makes their absence from the text itself all the more keenly felt: I expect better from Norton than this kind of secondhand insight. I also felt that Smith's editorial approach was somewhat more that of a fan than of a scholar. Obviously I expect the editors Norton chooses to be ones with a profound love for the text in hand, but Smith's personal enthusiasm for Shaw comes through more clearly in his selected content and editorial notes than does his scholarship. The closest thing we have to a negative or contrary view is a three-paragraph excerpt from a book by Shaw's personal friend, G.K. Chesterton, expressing a rather vague disappointment with "Major Barbara." An essay comparing and contrasting the responses of New York theatre critics to "Saint Joan" at its premiere and two subsequent revivals over the course of three decades mentions some negative reviews, even quotes a line or two, but the essay ends with the work universally acknowledged as a "world masterpiece" and we are never given the chance to read any of those negative reviews in their entirety. A couple of essays in the section on "Too True to Be Good" set out to counter the assertion of some critics that Shaw's later plays were disappointingly formless and weak, but we never get to hear any of those critics make their case in the first place. The best Norton Critical Editions I have read offer a lively interplay between widely contrasting perspectives, which I have found leads to a deeper appreciation of the work than this sort of one-sided fawning.
I don't know whether either of these deficiencies has been remedied in the 2002 edition, but I can say that in 1970, at least, Norton's treatment of Shaw, although certainly worth reading, left a lot to be desired.

