Unpublished Shaw

SHAW 16 contains twenty-nine unpublished pieces by Shaw written between 1877 and 1950. The most significant is a ten-page draft synopsis of Man and Superman (the original manuscript draft of the play has been lost) in a contemplated five-act version, providing scholars with a hitherto unavailable ur-text. Equally important for the biographical and artistic insights they offer are the early literary efforts found in Shaw's first opus notebook, including an extended narrative-verse fragment of 1877 set in Dublin; a polemic (his first) on oakum picking and prison conditions; a criticism of organists and orchestral conductors; and an attempted evaluation of contemporary arts and letters in 1878. We find Shaw, through the persona of a female narrator, creating in his own image a fictional memoir of the young Hector Berlioz; offering an ironic vindication of housebreakers (in anticipation of Heartbreak House); exploring the seamy side of the prizefight ring; examining "exhausted" genres of Victorian art in 1880; defining the "true signification of the term Gentleman"; lecturing on Socialism and the family and on realism as the goal of fiction; and penetratingly considering the future of marriage in a rejected book review, one of four included in the volume. The dimensions of Shaw's political views may be examined through nearly a dozen commentaries on politics and on war and peace, ranging from the Boer War (an 1899 draft letter to the press, "Why Not Abolish the Soldier?") and 1903 municipal elections to U.S. Liberty Loans, the Italo-Abyssinian War, "how to talk intelligently" about the Second World War, and the implications of the hydrogen bomb in the nuclear age. For good measure, the volume concludes with two brief playlets, previously unrecorded. The editors have arranged these pieces individually or grouped by theme and genre as near to chronological order as possible, and the reader is brought closer to the original manuscripts by the retention of Shaw's stylistic and spelling inconsistencies, and by transliteration of the shorthand notations he frequently inserted between lines or in the margins. Each text is supplemented by an editorial note providing its provenance and a detailed physical description of the manuscript.

Bernard Shaw fashioned public images of himself that belied the nature and depth of his emotional experiences and the complexity of his intellectual outlook. In this absorbing biography, noted Shavian authority A. M. Gibbs debunks many of the elements that form the foundation of Shaw's self-created legend--from his childhood (which was not the loveless experience he claimed publicly), to his sexual relationships with several women, to his marriage, his politics, his Irish identity, and his controversial philosophy of Creative Evolution. Drawing on previously unpublished materials, including never-before-seen photographs and early sketches by Shaw, Gibbs offers a fresh perspective and brings us closer than ever before to the human being behind the masks.

This special issue of Shaw offers ten articles that focus on the theme of "Shaw and History." That focus illuminates Shaw's concept of history as art and its uses for dramatic purposes. It is a focus that is broadly applied to the historical perspective. Views range from Shaw's uses of historical sources in the Shavianizing of history, his uses of historical, geographical, and political places and events in his work, to views that place selected Shavian works within a historical context. Stanley Weintraub discusses Shaw's references to Cetewayo, Zulu chieftain, in Cashel Byron's Profession as the first incorporation of a contemporary historical figure into his work. John Allett explores the liberal, socialist, and radical feminist views of prostitution in nineteenth-century England and demonstrates how those political views are developed within the unfolding action ofMrs Warren's Profession. Sidney P. Albert studies the Utopian movement, "The Garden City," to determine the extent to which that movement influenced Shaw's conception of Perivale St. Andres inMajor Barbara. He also narrates his personal attempt to identify the Ballycorus smelting works and its surroundings as well as the campanile, or Folly, at Faringdon as sites that provided the scenic sources for Perivale St. Andres inMajor Barbara. Gale K. Larson has edited a partially unpublished Shavian manuscript that addresses Shaw's relationship with Frank Harris and, among other matters, sets the historical record right as to who deserves the credit for attributing the identity of the Dark Lady of the Sonnets to Mary Fitton. He also examines the historical sources that influenced Shaw's views on Charles II, the "Merry Monarch," in"In Good King Charles's Golden Days" and demonstrates Shaw's reclamation of yet another historical figure from the traditional historians. David Gunby examines the first-night performance of O'Flaherty, V.C. for purposes of setting the historical record straight as to the facts of that production. Wendi Chen presents the stage history of the production of Mrs Warren's Professionin China during the early 1920s and argues its central role in shaping modern Chinese drama. Rodelle Weintraub assesses Too True to Be Good as a dream play within the context of the nightmarish times of World War I. Michael M. O'Hara surveys the Federal Theatre's productions of Androcles and the Lionin the 1930s to reveal the political and religious repressions that those productions underscore. Shaw 19 also includes three reviews of recent additions to Shavian scholarship as well as John R. Pfeiffer's "Continuing Checklist of Shaviana."

Shaw, now in its twenty-fourth year, publishes general articles on Shaw and his milieu, reviews, notes, and the authoritative Continuing Checklist of Shaviana, the bibliography of Shaw studies.

Available in paperback for the first time, Gareth Griffith's book provides a comprehensive critical account of the political ideas of one of the most influential commentators of the twentieth century. With close reference to a range of Shaw's texts, from the Fabian tracts to the plays, Gareth Griffith draws out the central theoretical messages of Shaw's engagement with politics. The first part of the book provides an intellectual biography, while at the same time analysing Shaw's key concerns in relation to his Fabianism, arguments for equality of income and ideas on democracy and education. Part Two looks at those areas which Shaw approached as long-standing historical problems or dramas requiring immediate thought or action; sexual equality, the Irish question, war, fascism and sovietism. The book is directed to the general reader as well as to specialists. It will be central reading for anyone seeking to understand Shaw's life, and literary and political writings, or the development of political thinking in this century, or the problems and potential inherent in socialism.

The curious story of the unlikely relationship between a champion boxer and a celebrated man of letters. Gene Tunney, the world heavyweight-boxing champion from 1926 to 1928, seemed an unusual companion for George Bernard Shaw, but Shaw, a world-famous playwright, found the Irish-American athlete to be "among the very few for whom I have established a warm affection." The Prizefighter and the Playwright chronicles the legendary -- but rarely documented -- relationship that formed between this celebrated odd couple. From the beginning, it seemed a strange relationship, as Tunney was 40 years younger and the men could not have occupied more different worlds. Yet it is clear that these two famous men, comfortable on the world stage, longed for friendship when they were out of the celebrity spotlight. Full of surprises and revelations about Shaw and Tunney, this handsome book is also a fascinating look at their times. Author Jay R. Tunney is the son of the famous fighter, and his book is a beautifully woven and often surprising biography of the two men. The book evolved from the acclaimed BBC radio program The Master and the Boy. Fans of George Bernard Shaw will enjoy the little-known stories in this intensely personal account that includes never-before-published images from Tunney's own family collection.