Man and Superman/Arms and the Man

by George Bernard Shaw

I warn you that if you attempt to repudiate your responsibility, I shall suspect you of finding the play too decorous for your taste. The fifteen years have made me older and graver. In you I can detect no such becoming change. Your levities and audacities are like the loves and comforts prayed for by Desdemona: they increase, even as your days do grow. No mere pioneering journal dares meddle with them now: the stately Times itself is alone sufficiently above suspicion to act as your chaperone; and even the Times must sometimes thank its stars that new plays are not produced every day, since after each such event its gravity is compromised, its platitude turned to epigram, its portentousness to wit, its propriety to elegance, and even its decorum into naughtiness by criticisms which the traditions of the paper do not allow you to sign at the end, but which you take care to sign with the most extravagant flourishes between the lines. I am not sure that this is not a portent of Revolution. In eighteenth century France the end was at hand when men bought the Encyclopedia and found Diderot there. When I buy the Times and find you there, my prophetic ear catches a rattle of twentieth century tumbrils.

284 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2013

About the author

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, socialist, and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. 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. Over the course of his life he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his plays address prevailing social problems, but each also includes a vein of comedy that makes their stark themes more palatable. In these works Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.

An ardent socialist, Shaw was angered by what he perceived to be the exploitation of the working class. He wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. 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. For a short time he was active in local politics, serving on the London County Council.

In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They settled in Ayot St. Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner.

He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938). The former for his contributions to literature and the latter for his work on the film "Pygmalion" (adaptation of his play of the same name). Shaw wanted to refuse his Nobel Prize outright, as he had no desire for public honours, but he 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.

Shaw died at Shaw's Corner, aged 94, from chronic health problems exacerbated by injuries incurred by falling.

Reviews

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arms and The Man:-

What seems obvious might after all not be so, and those that are seemingly snobbish and haughty might be not as affluent after all as those that seem casual or even comic. those that speak of love and are rewarded for their bravery might have never experienced either.

And then there is Switzerland, the beautiful land with snow and meadows and chocolate and cheese, and contradictions - a country that never fought a war in recent history but has always hired out mercenaries to every nation.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008.
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Man And Superman: -

The idea had been around for a while, in various - genuine, not cartoon - forms, one supposes. At any rate various people developed it according to their best capacities of conception and perception. And it was a natural idea, after all. When one looks at evolution, it is only natural to expect that it might not be yet finished, and there might be higher rungs. If one thinks of creation, why suppose it is over? Who are humans to dictate that Divine can appear only once or is finished with Creation?

George Bernard Shaw goes here into a hilarious look at things as they are and then into what might, what magnanimity they can achieve at the next stage; at life force that dictates people marry and reproduce, albeit calling it romance and love; at limitations of best and sharpest intellect when faced with life force; and in an inspired act, at concepts of heaven and hell as they really should be seen, rather than the silly prevailing ones.

Truly delightful, one of the most hilariously delightful works of Shaw, and that is saying a lot. It leads you to think deep within while you are too busy laughing to notice it.

Monday, September 22, 2008.
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