George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was a highly influential 19th century dramatist, novelist, and music critic. He was born in Dublin in 1856 and died in Hertfordshire in 1950.

Life

Having spent a somewhat unfulfilled youth in Ireland, Shaw moved to London in 1876. He had started writing a few years earlier, but was unable to have any of his first five novels published. In 1884, however, he joined the Fabian Society, for which he wrote many well-known socialist essays. Furthermore, he began to make a name for himself by writing music critiques for Star Magazine in 1888, as well as drama critiques for Saturday Review in 1895. Towards the turn of the century, he then began to focus more intently on writing plays, with which he ultimately made his name. In turn, this led to his earlier works becoming more widely known, too.

Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

Significance for 19th century British culture

Though he hardly ever addressed them explicitly, Shaw indubitably touches upon many cultural issues of the 19th century in his plays. He reflects upon topics such as socialism, class struggle, family structures, prostitution, and vaccination. As his publications cover such a wide variety of subject matter and a lengthy time span, he is said to have influenced the mentality of several generations.

Some of his best-known works:

Mrs Warren’s Profession (1898) Arms and the Man (1898) Man and Superman (1903) Pygmalion (1916) The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism (1928)

Encyclopaedia Britannica: George Bernard Shaw. Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc: 1976

Magnusson, Magnus (Ed): Chambers Biographical Dictionary. 5th ed. Edinburgh: W&R Chambers Ltd, 1990