George Bernar d Shaw萧伯纳简介1856-1950 长篇小说：An Unsoci al Social ist业余社会主义者评论：Quinte ssenc e of Ibseni sm 剧本：Widoer’sHouses鳏夫的房产;Mrs Warren’sProfes sion华伦夫人的职业TheDevil’sDiscip le魔鬼的门徒;Man and Superm an人与超人;JohnBull’sOtherIsland英国佬的另一个岛;MajorBarbar a巴巴拉少校;Pygmal ion劈克美梁;Heartb reakHouse伤心之家;The AppleCart 苹果车;Too True to be Good真相毕露born July 26, 1856, Dublin, Irelan ddied Novemb er 2, 1950, Ayot St. Lawren ce, Hertfo rdshi re, Englan dGeorge Bernar d Shaw, photog raphby Yousuf Karsh.Irishcomicdramat ist, litera ry critic, and social ist propag andis t, winner of the NobelPrizefor Litera turein 1925.Earlylife and careerGeorge Bernar d Shaw was the thirdand younge st child(and only son) of George Carr Shaw and Lucind a Elizab eth GurlyShaw. Techni cally, he belong ed to the Protes tant“ascend ancy”—the landed Irishgentry—but his imprac tical father was firsta sinecu red civilservan t and then an unsucc essfu l grainmercha nt, and George Bernar d grew up in an atmosp hereof gentee l povert y, whichto him was more humili ating than beingmerelypoor. At firsttutore d by a cleric al uncle, Shaw basica lly reject ed the school s he then attend ed, and by age 16 he was workin g in a land agent's office.Shaw develo ped a wide knowle dge of music,art, and litera tureas a result of his mother's influe nce and his visits to the Nation al Galler y of Irelan d. In 1872 his mother left her husban d and took her two daught ers to London, follow ing her musicteache r, George John Vandel eur Lee, who from 1866 had shared househ oldsin Dublin with the Shaws. In 1876 Shaw resolv ed to become a writer, and he joined his mother and eldersister (the younge r one having died) in London. Shaw in his 20s suffer ed contin uousfrustr ation and povert y. He depend ed upon his mother's pounda week from her husban d and her earnin gs as a musicteache r. He spenthis aftern oonsin the Britis h Museum readin g room, writin g novels and readin g what he had missed at school, and his evenin gs in search of additi onalself-educat ion in the lectur es and debate s that charac teriz edcontem porar y middle-classLondon intell ectua l activi ties.His fictio n failed utterl y. The semiau tobio graph icaland aptlytitled Immatu rity(1879; publis hed 1930) repell ed everypublis her in London. His next four novels were simila rly refuse d, as were most of the articl es he submit ted to the pressfor a decade. Shaw's initia l litera ry work earned him less than 10 shilli ngs a year. A fragme nt posthu mousl y publis hed as An Unfini shedNovelin 1958 (but writte n 1887–88) was his finalfalsestartin fictio n.Despit e his failur e as a noveli st in the 1880s,Shaw foundhimsel f during this decade. He became a vegeta rian,a social ist, a spellb indin g orator, a polemi cist, and tentat ively a playwr ight. He became the forcebehind the newlyfounde d (1884) Fabian Societ y, a middle-classsocial ist groupthat aimedat the transf ormat ion of Englis h societ y not throug h revolu tionbut throug h “permea tion”(in Sidney Webb's term) of the countr y's intell ectua l and politi cal life. Shaw involv ed himsel f in everyaspecti cs of Britis h of its activi ties,most visibl y as editor of one of the classsocial ism, Fabian Essays in Social ism(1889), to whichhe also contri buted two sectio ns.Eventu ally, in 1885 the dramacritic Willia m Archer foundShaw steady journa listi c work. His earlyjourna lismranged from book review s in the Pall Mall Gazett e (1885–88) and art critic ism in the World(1886–89) to brilli ant musica l column s in the Star(as “Cornodi Basset to”—basset horn) from 1888 to 1890 and in the World(as “G.B.S.”) from 1890 to 1894. Shaw had a good unders tandi ng of music, partic ularl y opera, and he supple mente d his knowle dge with a brilli anceof digres sionthat givesmany of his notice s a perman ent appeal. But Shaw trulybeganto make his markwhen he was recrui ted by FrankHarris to the Saturd ay Review as theatr e critic (1895–98); in that positi on he used all his wit and polemi cal powers in a campai gn to displa ce the artifi ciali tiesand hypocr isies of the Victor ian stagewith a theatr e of vitalideas.He also beganwritin g his own plays.FirstplaysWhen Shaw beganwritin g for the Englis h stage, its most promin ent dramat istswere Sir A.W. Pinero and H.A. Jones. Both men were trying to develo p a modern realis tic drama,but neithe r had the powerto breakaway from the type of artifi cialplotsand conven tiona l charac ter typesexpect ed by theatr egoer s. The povert y of this sort of dramahad become appare nt with the introd uctio n of severa l of Henrik Ibsen's playsonto the London stagearound 1890, when A Doll's Housewas played in London; his Ghosts follow ed in 1891, and the possib ility of a new freedo m and seriou sness on the Englis h stagewas introd uced. Shaw, who was aboutto publis h The Quinte ssenc e of Ibseni sm (1891), rapidl y refurb ished an aborti ve comedy, Widowe rs' Houses, as a play recogn izabl y “Ibseni te” in tone, making it turn on the notori ous scanda l of slum landlo rdism in London. The result (perfor med 1892) floute d the thread bareromant ic conven tions that were stillbeingexploi ted even by the most daring new playwr ights. In the play a well-intent ioned youngEnglis hmanfallsin love and then discov ers that his prospe ctive father-in-law's fortun e and his own privat e income derive from exploi tatio n of the poor.Potent ially this is a tragic situat ion, but Shaw seemsto have been always determ inedto avoidtraged y. The unamia ble lovers do not attrac t sympat hy; it is the social evil and not the romant ic predic ament on whichattent ion is concen trate d, and the action is kept well within the key of ironic comedy.The same dramat ic predis posit ionscontro l Mrs. Warren's Profes sion, writte n in 1893 but not perfor med until1902 becaus e the lord chambe rlain, the censor of plays, refuse d it a licens e. Its subjec t is organi zed prosti tutio n, and its action turnson the discov ery by a well-educat ed youngwomanthat her mother has gradua ted throug h the “profes sion” to become a part-propri etorof brothe ls throug houtEurope. Again, the econom ic determ inant s of the situat ion are emphas ized, and the subjec t is treate d remors eless ly and withou t the titill ation of fashio nable comedi es about“fallen women.” As with many of Shaw's works, the play is, within limits, a dramaof ideas, but the vehicl e by whichtheseare presen ted is essent ially one of high comedy.Shaw called thesefirstplays“unplea sant,” becaus e “theirdramat ic poweris used to forcethe specta tor to face unplea santfacts.” He follow ed them with four “pleasa nt” playsin an effort to find the produc ers and audien ces that his mordan t comedi es had offend ed. Both groups of playswere revise d and publis hed in PlaysPleasa nt and Unplea sant(1898). The firstof the second group,Arms and the Man (perfor med 1894), has a Balkan settin g and makeslighth earte d, though someti mes mordan t, fun of romant ic falsif icati ons of both love and warfar e. The second, Candid a(perfor med 1897), was import ant for Englis h theatr icalhistor y, for its succes sfulproduc tionat the RoyalCourtTheatr e in 1904 encour agedHarley Granvi lle-Barker and J.E. Vedren ne to form a partne rship that result ed in a series of brilli ant produc tions there. The play repres entsits heroin e as forced to choose betwee n her cleric al husban d—a worthy but obtuse Christ ian social ist—and a youngpoet who has fallen wildly in love with her. She choose s herconfid ent-seemin g husban d becaus e she discer ns that he is actual ly the weaker. The poet is immatu re and hyster icalbut, as an artist, has a capaci ty to renoun ce person al happin ess in the intere st of some largecreati ve purpos e. This is a signif icant themefor Shaw; it leadson to that of the confli ct betwee n man as spirit ual creato r and womanas guardi an of the biolog icalcontin uityof the humanrace that is basicto Man and Superm an. In Candid a such specul ative issues are only lightl y touche d on, and this is true also of You NeverCan Tell (perfor med 1899), in whichthe hero and heroin e, who believ e themse lvesto be respec tivel y an accomp lishe d amoris t and an utterl y ration al and emanci pated woman,find themse lvesin the grip of a vitalforcethat takeslittle accoun t of thesenotion s.The strain of writin g theseplays,whilehis critic al and politi cal work went on unabat ed, so sapped Shaw's streng th that a minorillnes s became a majorone. In 1898, during the proces s of recupe ratio n, he marrie d his unoffi cialnurse,Charlo tte Payne-Townsh end, an Irishheires s and friend of Beatri ce and Sidney Webb. The appare ntlyceliba te marria ge lasted all theirlives, Shaw satisf yinghis emotio nal needsin paper-passio n corres ponde nceswith EllenTerry, Mrs. Patric k Campbe ll, and others.Shaw's next collec tionof plays,ThreePlaysfor Purita ns (1901), contin ued what became the tradit ional Shavia n prefac e—an introd uctor y essayin an electr ic prosestyledealin g as much with the themes sugges ted by the playsas the playsthemse lves.The Devil's Discip le (perfor med 1897) is a play set in New Hampsh ire during the Americ an Revolu tionand is an invers ion of tradit ional melodr ama. Caesar and Cleopa tra(perfor med 1901) is Shaw's firstgreatplay. In the play Cleopa tra is a spoile d and viciou s 16-year-old childrather than the 38-year-old temptr ess ofShakes peare's Antony and Cleopa tra. The play depict s Caesar as a lonelys opher as he is a soldie r. The play's and auster e man who is as much a philooutsta nding succes s restsupon its treatm ent of Caesar as a credib le studyin magnan imity and “origin al morali ty” rather than as a superh umanhero on a stagepedest al. The thirdplay, Captai n Brassb ound's Conver sion(perfor med 1900), is a sermon agains t variou s kindsof follymasque radin g as duty and justic e.Intern ation al import anceIn Man and Superm an (perfor med 1905) Shaw expoun ded his philos ophythat humani ty is the latest stagein a purpos efuland eterna l evolut ionar y moveme nt of the “life force” toward ever-higher life forms.The play's hero, Jack Tanner, is bent on pursui ng his own spirit ual develo pment in accord ancewith this philos ophyas he fleesthe determ inedmarita l pursui t of the heroin e, Ann Whitef ield. In the end Jack rueful ly allows himsel f to be captur ed in marria ge by Ann upon recogn izing that she hersel f is a powerf ul instru mentof the “life force,” sincethe contin uatio n and thus the destin y of the humanrace lies ultima telyin her and otherwomen's reprod uctiv e capaci ty. The play's nonrea listi c thirdact, the “Don Juan in Hell” dreamscene,is spoken theatr e at its most operat ic and is oftenperfor med indepe ndent ly as a separa te piece.Shaw had alread y become establ ished as a majorplaywr ighton the Contin ent by the perfor mance of his playsthere, but, curiou sly, his reputa tionlagged in Englan d. It was only with the produc tionof John Bull's OtherIsland(perfor med 1904) in London, with a specia l perfor mance for Edward VII, that Shaw's stagereputa tionwas belate dly made in Englan d.Shaw contin ued, throug h high comedy, to explor e religi ous consci ousne ss and to pointout societ y's compli cityin its own evils.In MajorBarbar a (perfor med 1905), Shaw has his heroin e, a majorin the Salvat ion Army, discov er that her estran ged father, a muniti ons manufa cture r, may be a dealer in deathbut that his princi plesand practi ce, howeve r unorth odox, are religi ous in the highes t sense, whilethoseof the Salvat ion Army requir e the hypocr isies of often-falsepublic confes sionand thedonati ons of the distil lersand the armour ers agains t whichit inveig hs. In The Doctor's Dilemm a(perfor med 1906), Shaw produc ed a satire upon the medica l profes sion(repres entin g the self-protec tionof profes sions in genera l) and upon both the artist ic temper ament and the public's inabil ity to separa te it from the artist's achiev ement. In Androc les and the Lion (perfor med 1912), Shaw dealtwith true and falsereligi ous exalta tionina philos ophic al play aboutearlyChrist ianit y. Its centra l theme,examin ed throug h a groupof earlyChrist ianscondem ned to the arena, is that one must have someth ing worthdyingfor—an end outsid e onesel f—in orderto make life worthliving.Possib ly Shaw's comedi c master piece, and certai nly his funnie st and most popula r play, is Pygmal ion (perfor med 1913). It was claime d by Shaw to be a didact ic dramaaboutphonet ics, and its antihe roichero, HenryHiggin s, is a phonet ician, but the play is a humane comedy aboutlove and the Englis h classsystem. The play is aboutthe traini ng Higgin s givesto a Cockne y flower girl to enable her to pass as a lady and is also about the reperc ussio ns of the experi ment's succes s. The scenein whichElizaDoolit tle appear s in high societ y when she has acquir ed a correc t accent but no notion of polite conver satio n is one of the funnie st in Englis h drama.Pygmal ion has been both filmed (1938), winnin g an Academ y Awardfor Shaw for his screen play,and adapte d into an immens ely popula r musica l, My Fair Lady (1956; motion-pictur e versio n, 1964).WorksafterWorldWar IWorldWar I was a waters hed for Shaw. At firsthe ceased writin g plays, publis hinginstea d a contro versi al pamphl et, “Common SenseAboutthe War,” whichcalled GreatBritai n and its Allies equall y culpab le with the German s and argued for negoti ation and peace. His antiwa r speech es made him notori ous and the target of much critic ism. In Heartb reakHouse(perfor med 1920), Shaw expose d, in a countr y-housesettin g on the eve of war, the spirit ual bankru ptcyof the genera tionrespon sible for the war's bloods hed. Attemp tingto keep from fallin g into “the bottom lesspit of an utterl y discou ragin g pessim ism,” Shaw wrotefive linked playsunderthe collec tivetitleBack to Methus elah(1922). They expoun d hisphilos ophyof creati ve evolut ion in an extend ed dramat ic parabl e that progre ssesthroug h time from the Garden of Eden to AD 31,920.The canoni zatio n of Joan of Arc in 1920 reawak enedwithin Shaw ideasfora chroni cle play abouther. In the result ing master piece, SaintJoan (perfor med 1923), the Maid is treate d not only as a Cathol ic saintand martyr but as a combin ation of practi cal mystic, hereti cal saint, and inspir ed genius. Joan, as the superi or being“crushe d betwee n thosemighty forces, the Church and the Law,” is the person ifica tionof the tragic heroin e; her deathembodi es the parado x that humank ind fears—and oftenkills—its saints and heroes and will go on doingso untilthe very higher moralqualit ies it fearsbecome the genera l condit ion of manthroug h a proces s of evolut ionar y change. Acclai m for SaintJoan led to the awardi ng of the 1925 NobelPrizefor Litera tureto Shaw (he refuse d the award).In his laterplaysShaw intens ified his explor ation s into tragic omicand nonrea listi c symbol ism. For the next five years,he wrotenothin g for the theatr e but worked on his collec ted editio n of 1930–38 and theencycl opaed ic politi cal tract“The Intell igent Woman's GuidetoSocial ism and Capita lism”(1928). Then he produc ed The AppleCart (perfor med 1929), a futuri stichigh comedy that emphas izedShaw's innerconfli cts betwee n his lifeti me of radica l politi cs and his essent ially conser vativ e mistru st of the common man's abilit y to govern himsel f. Shaw's later,minorplaysinclud ed Too True to Be Good(perfor med 1932), On The Rocks(perfor med 1933), The Simple ton of the Unexpe ctedIsles(perfor med 1935), Geneva (perfor med 1938), and In Good King Charle s's Golden Days(1939). Aftera wartim e hiatus, Shaw, then in his 90s, produc ed severa l more plays,includ ing Farfet chedFables(perfor med 1950), Shakes Versus Shav (perfor med 1949), and Why She WouldNot (1956), whichis a fantas y with only flashe s of the earlie r Shaw.Impude nt, irreve rent,and always a showma n, Shaw used his buoyan t wit to keep himsel f in the public eye to the end of his 94 years;his wiry figure, bristl ing beard,and dandyi sh cane were as well-knownthroug houtthe worldas his plays. When his wife, Charlo tte, died of a linger ing illnes s in 1943, in the midstof WorldWar II, Shaw, frailand feelin g the effect s of wartim e privat ions, made perman ent his retrea t from his Londonapartm ent to his countr y home at Ayot St. Lawren ce, a Hertfo rdshi re villag e in whichhe had livedsince1906. He died therein 1950.George Bernar d Shaw was not merely the best comicdramat ist of his time but also one of the most signif icant playwr ights in the Englis h langua ge sincethe 17th centur y. Some of his greate st worksfor the stage—Caesar and Cleopa tra, the “Don Juan in Hell” episod e of Man and Superm an, MajorBarbar a, Heartb reakHouse, and SaintJoan—have a high seriou sness and prosebeauty that were unmatc hed by his stagecontem porar ies. His develo pment of a dramaof moralpassio n and of intell ectua l confli ct and debate, his revivi fying the comedy of manner s, his ventur es into symbol ic farceand into a theatr e of disbel ief helped shapethe theatr e of his time and after. A vision ary and mystic whosephilos ophyof moralpassio n permea tes his plays, Shaw was also the most trench ant pamphl eteer sinceSwift;the most readab le musiccritic in Englis h; the best theatr e criticof his genera tion; a prodig iouslectur er and essayi st on politi cs, econom ics, and sociol ogica l subjec ts; and one of the most prolif ic letter writer s in litera ture. By bringi ng a bold critic al intell igenc e to hismany otherareasof intere st, he helped mold the politi cal, econom ic, and sociol ogica l though t of threegenera tions.Stanle y Weintr aubJo hn I.M. Stewar t Ed.Additi onalReadin gWorksthat are primar ily biogra phy includ e Archib ald Hender son, George Bernar d Shaw, Man of the Centur y (1956, reissu ed in 2 vol., 1972); FrankHarris, Bernar d Shaw (1931); Hesket h Pearso n, Bernar d Shaw (1942, reissu ed 1987; also publis hed as G.B.S., 1942, reissu ed 1952, and as George Bernar d Shaw, 1963); Willia m Irvine, The Univer se of G.B.S. (1949); St. John GreerErvine, Bernar d Shaw (1956); AllanChappe low (ed.), Shaw the Villag er and HumanBeing(1961); B.C. Rosset, Shaw of Dublin: The Format ive Years(1964); J. PercySmith,The Unrepe ntant Pilgri m (1965), a studyof Shaw's twenti es and thirti es; Margot Peters, Bernar d Shaw and the Actres ses (1980); Arnold Silver, Bernar d Shaw: The Darker Side (1982), a psycho logic al study; and Michae l Holroy d, Bernar d Shaw, 4 vol. (1988–92). Earlyworksof critic ism includ e HenryL. Mencke n, George Bernar d Shaw: His Plays(1905, reprin ted 1977); and G.K. Cheste rton, George Bernar d Shaw, new ed. (1935, reissu ed 1961). T.F. Evans(ed.), Shaw: The Critic al Herita ge (1976), collec ts contem porar y critic ism, 1892–1951. Latercritic ism includ es E. Straus s, Bernar d Shaw: Art and Social ism (1942, reprin ted 1978); Eric Bentle y, Bernar d Shaw (1947, reissu ed 1976); AlickWest, George Bernar d Shaw: “A Good Man Fallen AmongFabian s” (1950); Arthur H. Nether cot, Men and Superm en, 2nd ed. (1966), an analys is of Shaw's charac ters; Julian B. Kaye, Bernar d Shaw and the Ninete enth-Centur y Tradit ion (1958); Martin Meisel, Shaw and theNinete enth-Centur y Theate r (1963, reprin ted 1984); Bernar d F. Dukore, Bernar d Shaw, Playwr ight:Aspect s of Shavia n Drama(1973); EldonC. Hill, George Bernar d Shaw (1978), an introd uctor y study;Michae l Holroy d (ed.), The Genius of Shaw: A Sympos ium (1979); Stanle y Weintr aub, The Unexpe ctedShaw: Biogra phica l Approa chesto G.B.S. and His Work (1982); Warren Sylves ter Smith,Bishop of Everyw here: Bernar d Shaw and the Life Force(1982), explor ing aspect s of Shaw's religi osity; A.M. Gibbs,The Art and Mind of Shaw (1983); and Nichol as Grene,Bernar d Shaw, a Critic al View (1984). Curren t critic ism may be foundin the journa l Shaw (annual).。
