1、George Bernard Shaw July 26, 1856 - November 2, 1950 George Bernard Shaw was an Irish dramatist, a playwright, a socialist spokesman, a literary critic and a leading figure in the 20th century theater. He was born in Dublin. where he grew up in poverty. He educated himself by going to the library. T
2、hroughout his lifetime he had many causes which he believed in and supported, one such cause was womans rights and equality of income. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He refused the money that went with the award, but did accepted the honour. Irish dramatist, literary critic,
3、a socialist spokesman, and a leading figure in the 20th century theater. Shaw was a freethinker, defender of womens rights, and advocate of equality of income. In 1925 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Shaw accepted the honour but refused the money.Just as the historian can teach no rea
4、l history until he has cured his readers of the romantic delusion that the greatness of a queen consists in her being a pretty woman and having her head cut off, so the playwright of the first order can do nothing with his audience until he has cured them of looking at the stage through the keyhole,
5、 and sniffing round the theatre as prurient people sniff round the divorce court. (from G.B. Shaws preface in Three Plays by Brieux, 1911) George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, where he grew up in something close to genteel poverty. I am a typical Irishman; my family came from Yorkshire, Shaw once
6、 said. His father, George Carr Shaw, was in the wholesale grain trade. Lucinda Elisabeth (Gurly) Shaw, his mother, was the daughter of an impoverished landowner. She was 16-years younger than her husband. George Carr was a drunkard - his example prompted his son to become a teetotaller. When he died
7、 in 1885, his children and wife did not attend his funeral. Young Shaw and his two sisters were brought up mostly by servants. Shaws mother eventually left the family home to teach music, singing, in London. When she died in 1913, Shaw confessed to Mrs. Patrick Campbell: I must write to you about it
8、, because there is no one else who didnt hate her mother, and even who doesnt hate her children. In 1866 the family moved to a better neighborhood. Shaw went to the Wesleyan Connexional School, then moved to a private school near Dalkey, and from there to Dublins Central Model School. Shaw finished
9、his formal education at the Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School. At the age of 15, he started to work as a junior clerk. In 1876 he went to London, joining his sister and mother. Shaw did not return to Ireland for nearly thirty years.Most of the next two years Shaw educated himself a
10、t the British Museum. He began his literary career by writing music and drama criticism, and novels, including the semi-autobiographical IMMATURITY, without much success. A vegetarian, who eschewed alcohol and tobacco, Shaw joined in 1884 the Fabian Society, served on its executive committee from 18
11、85 to 1911. The middle-class socialist group attracted also H.G. Wells - the both writers send each other copies of their new books as they appeared. You are, now that Wilde is dead, the one living playwright in my esteem, wrote Wells after receiving Shaws THREE PLAYS FOR PURITANS (1901). A man of m
12、any causes, Shaw supported abolition of private property, radical change in the voting system, campaigned for the simplification of spelling, and the reform of the English alphabet. As a public speaker, Shaw gained the status of one of the most sought-after orators in England. In 1895 Shaw became a
13、drama critic for the Saturday Review. Articles written for the paper were later collected in OUR THEATRES IN THE NINETIES (1932). Music, art, and drama criticism Shaw wrote for Dramatic Review (1885-86), Our Corner (1885-86), The Pall Mall Gazette (1885-88), The World (1886-94), and The Star (1888-9
14、0) as Corno bi Basetto. His music criticism were collected in SHAWS MUSIC (1981). After lacing a shoe too tightly, an operation was performed on his foot for necrosis; Shaw was unable to put his foot on the ground for eighteen months. During this period he wrote CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (1901) and THE P
15、ERFECT WAGNERITE (1898). .I have no reason to believe that they would have been a bit better if they had been written on two legs instead of one, he said in a letter to the playwright St John Ervine. His friend had his leg amputated during WWI after being hit by a shell splinters. In 1898 Shaw marri
16、ed the wealthy Charlotte Payne-Townshend. They settled in 1906 in the Hertfordshire village of Ayot St. Lawrence. Shaw remained with Charlotte until her death, although he was occasionally linked with other women. He carried on a passionate correspondence over the years with Mrs. Patrick Campbell, a
17、 widow and actress, who got the starring role in PYGMALION. All the other actresses refused to say the taboo word bloody that the playwright had put in the mouth of Eliza. When she wanted to publish his love letters to her, Shaw answered: I will not, dear Stella, at my time of life, play the horse t
18、o your Lady Godiva. The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen had a great influence on Shaws thinking. For a summer meeting of the Fabian Society in 1890, he wrote THE QUINTESSENCE OF IBSENISM (1891), in which he considered Ibsen a pioneer, who declares that it is right to do something hitherto regarded
19、 as infamous. Shaws early plays, WIDOWERS HOUSES (1892), which criticized slum landlords, as well as several subsequent ones, were not well received. His unpleasant plays, ideological attacks on the evils of capitalism and explorations of moral and social problems, were followed with more entertaini
20、ng but as principled productions. To a professional critic (I have been one myself) theatre-going is the curse of Adam. The play is the evil he is paid to endure in the sweat of his brow; and the sooner it is over, the better. (from Preface to Saint Joan) . CANDIDA was a comedy about the wife of a c
21、lergyman, and what happens when a weak, young poet wants to rescue her from her dull family life. But it was not until JOHN BULLS OTHER ISLAND (1904) that Shaw gained in England a wider popularity with his own plays. In the Unites States and Germany Shaws name was already well-known. Between 1904 an
22、d 1907 The Royal Court Theatre staged several of his plays, including Candida. MORELL: Man can climb to the highest summits; but he cannot dwell there. MARCHBACKS (springing up): Its false: there can he dwell for ever, and there only. Its in the other moment that he can find no rest, no sense of the
23、 silent glory of life. Where would you have spend my moments, if not on the summits? MORELL: In the scullery, slicing onions and filling lamps. (from Candida) MAJOR BARBARA depicted an officer of the Salvation Army, who learns from her father, a manufacturer of armaments, that money and power can be
24、 better weapons against evil than love. Ironically the producer of the film version of the play, Gabriel Pascal, was eager to do business with Sir Basil Zaharoff, an arms dealer. PICKERING: Have you no morals, man?DOOLITTLE: Cant afford them, Governor.(from Pygmalion) Pygmalion was originally writte
25、n for the actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell. Later the play became the basis for two films and a musical. (Shaws correspondence with the actresses Ellen Terry and Stella Campbell are available in book form.) Shaws popularity declined after his essay Common Sense About the War (1914), which was considere
26、d unpatriotic. With SAINT JOAN (1924), his masterpiece, Shaw was again accepted by the post-war public. Now he was regarded as a second Shakespeare, who had revolutionized the British theatre. Shaw did not portrait Joan of Arc, his protagonist, as a heroine or martyr, but as a stubborn young woman.
27、And as in classic tragedies, her flaw is fatal and brings about her downfall. Uncommonly Shaw showed some sympathy to her judges. The play was written four years after Joan was declared a saint. In 1893 Shaw collaborated with Keir Hardie in writing the party program for the new Independent Labour pa
28、rty. Many of his playes also were philosophical addresses on the subject of individual responsibility or freedom of spirit against the conformist demands of society. Shaw was cofounder with the Webbs of the London School of Economics, and launched the petition against the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde
29、. In 1897 he entered local government. In his plays Shaw combined contemporary moral problems with ironic tone and paradoxes, Shavian wit, which have produced such phrases as He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches, England and America are two countries divided by a common language, Christianity mi
30、ght be a good thing if anyone ever tried it, and I never resist temptation because I have found that things are bad for me do not tempt me. Discussion and intellectual acrobatics are the basis of his drama, and before the emergence of the sound film, his plays were nearly impossible to adapt into sc
31、reen. During his long career, Shaw wrote over 50 plays. He continued to write them even in his 90s. George Bernard Shaw died at Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, on November 2, 1950. He was cremated and it was his wish that his ashes be mixed with those of his wife, Charlotte - she had died seven ye
32、ars before, an old woman bowed and crippled, furrowed and wrinkled, as Shaw depicted her in a letter to H.G. Wells. Since the days of the silent films, Shaw had been a fan of motion-picture. He also played in the film Rosy Rapture - The Pride of the Beauty (1914). Shaw did not like much of the Germa
33、n film version of Pygmalion (1935), and the penniless producer and director Gabriel Pascal persuaded the author to give him the rights to make films from his plays. Mr Pascal, youre the first honest film producer I have ever met, Shaw told him at their first meeting and gave him a pound note. Pygmal
34、ion, produced by Pascal and directed by Anthony Asquith and David Lean (uncredited), was a great success. In one article, Pascal was picked with the Pope and Hitler as one of the ten most famous men of 1938, but his career ended in the financial fiasco of the spectacle Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). A
35、mong several other films inspired by Shaws plays are Saint Joan (1927), How He Lied to Her Husband (1931), Arms and the Man (1932), Major Barbara (1941), and My Fair Lady (1964). Pascals co-director in Major Barbara was David Lean, but for thousand pounds Lean agreed to give the full credit to Pasca
36、l. For further reading: Bernard Shaw by G.K. Chesterton (1909); Bernard Shaw by H.Pearson (1942); Bernard Shaw by E. Bentley (1957); Bernard Shaw: Man and Writer by A. Williamson (1963); A Guide to the Plays of Bernard Shaw by C.B. Purdom (1963); Bermard Shaw by E.R. Bentley (1967); Concordance to t
37、he Plays and Prefaces of Bernard Shaw by E.D. Bevan (1971, 10 vols.); Bernard Shaw: Art and Socialism by E. Strauss (1978); The Genius of Shaw, ed. M. Holroyd (1979); Bernard Shaw: The Darker Side by A. Silver (1982); Bernard Shaw: A Guide to Research by S. Weintraub (1992); Bernard Shaw: The Ascent
38、 of the Superman by Sally Peters (1996); Shaw by M. Holroyd (1988-93, 4 vols., authorized biography) - Suom.: Suomeksi julkaistu mys Jrjen sanoja sodasta.Selected works: IMMATURITY, 1879 THE IRRATIONAL KNOT, 1880 LOVE AMONG ARTIST, 1881 OUR CORNER; CASHEL BYRONS PROFESSION, 1882 AN UNSOCIAL SOCIALIS
39、T, 1883 FABIAN ESSAYS ON SOCIALISM, 1889 THE QUINTESSENCE OF IBSENISM, 1891 (- see Henrik Ibsen) WIDOWERS HOUSES, 1892 ARMS AND THE MAN, 1894 - Sankareita - film 1932, dir. by Cecil Lewis, starring Barry Jones, Anne Grey, Angela Baddeley CASHEL BYRONS PROFESSION, 1885 - Herra Byronin ammatti CANDIDA
40、, 1987 - suomentajina mm. Helmi Setl, Helvi Erjakka THE MAN OF DESTINY, 1897 - Kohtalon mies THE DEVILS DISCIPLE, 1897 - Pirun oppipoika - film 1959, dir. by Guy Hamilton, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Eva Le Gallienne THE PERFECT WAGNERITE, 1898 PLAYS PLEASANT AND UNPLEAS
41、ANT, 1898 THE PHILANDER, 1898 YOU NEVER CAN TELL, 1899 FABIANISM AND THE EMPIRE, 1900 CAPTAIN BRASSBOUNDS CONVERSION, 1900 - Kapteeni Brassboundin kntymys CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, 1901 - Caesar ja Cleopatra - film 1945, dir. by Gabriel Pascal, starring Claude Rains, Vivien Leigh, Cecil Parker, Stewart
42、Granger THREE PLAYS FOR PURITANS, 1901 MRS. WARRENS PROFESSION, 1902 - Rouva Warrenin ammatti JOHN BULLS OTHER ISLAND, 1904 (stage play 1907) THE COMMON SENSE OF MUNICIPAL TRADING, 1904 MAN AND SUPERMAN, 1905 ON GOING TO CHURCH, 1905 MAJOR BARBARA, 1905 - Majuri Barbara - film 1941, dir. by Gabriel
43、Pascal, starring Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison, Robert Morley, Robert Newton, Marie Lohr, Deborah Kerr DOCTORS DILEMMA, 1906 - Lkri pulassa - film 1958, dir. by Anthony Asquith, starring Leslie Caron, Dirk Bogarde, John Robinson DRAMATIC OPINIONS AND ESSAYS, 1906 GETTING MARRIED, 1908 MISALLIANCE, 1910
44、 SOCIALISM AND SUPERIOR BRAINS, 1910 FANNYS FIRST PLAY, 1911 - Fannyn ensi-ilta OVERRULED, 1912 ANDROCLES AND THE LION, 1912 - Androkles ja leijona GREAT CATHERINE, 1913 - Suuri Katariina PYGMALION, 1913 - suom. - film 1935, dir. by Erich Engel; film 1938, dir. by Anthony Asquith, starring Leslie Ho
45、ward, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson, Scott Sunderland; My Fair La dy in 1964, dir. by Ceorge Cukor, starring Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde White PEACE CONFERENCE HINTS, 1919 HEARTBREAK HOUSE, 1920 - Srkyneiden sydnten talo BACK TO METUSELAH, 1922 SAINT JOAN, 1923 - Pyh
46、Johanna (trans. by Matti Norri) - film 1957, dir. by Otto Preminger, starring Jean Seberg, Anton Walbrook, Richard Widmark - movie version utilized a screen version by Graham Greene - I always wanted to make a picture of it. Perhaps that was the great mistake: I loved the play so much that I didnt a
47、nalyze it. I realized only later that the play is actually a very intellectual, analytical rendition of the story of Saint Joan. Its not a emotional story, and it just wasnt moving enough to get the masses to follow. Even the play, as I found out later, was never a big popular success. (Otto Preming
48、er in Who the Devil Made It by Peter Bogdanovich, 1997) IMPRISONMENT, 1925 THE SOCIALISM OF SHAW, 1926 THE INTELLIGENT WOMANS GUIDE TO SOCIALISM AND CAPITALISM, 1928 THE APPLE CART, 1929 - Amerikan keisari BERNARD SHAW AND KARL MARX, 1930 WHAT I REALLY WROTE ABOUT THE WAR, 1931 screenplay (with Fran
49、k Launder): HOW HE LIED TO HER HUSBAND, 1931 - film dir. by Cecil Lewis DOCTORS DELUSIONS, CRUDE CRIMINOLOGY, AND SHAM EDUCATION, 1932 ESSAYS IN FABIAN SOCIALISM, 1932 THE WORKS OF BERNARD SHAW, 1930-32 (30 vols., revised as Ayot St. Lawrence Edition, 1931-32; Standard Edition, 36 vols., 1947-52) MA
50、JOR CRITICAL ESSAYS, 1932 TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD, 1932 OUR THEATRES IN THE NINETIES, 1932 MUSIC IN LONDON, 1890-94, 1932 AMERICAN BOOBS, 1933 PREFACES, 1934 VILLAGE WOOING, 1934 THE SIMPLETON OF THE UNEXPECTED ISLES, 1935 WILLIAM MORRIS AS I KNEW HIM, 1936 THE MILLIONAIRESS, 1936 - Miljoonaperijtr - fi
51、lm 1961, dir. by Anthony Asquith, starring Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Alistari Sim, Vittorio de Sica LONDON MUSIC IN 1888-1889, 1937 IN GOOD KING CHARLESS GOLDEN DAYS, 1939 EVERYBODYS POLITICAL WHATS WHAT, 1944 SIXTEEN SELF-SKETCHES, 1948 BUOYANT BILLIONS, 1948 (perf. and pub. Zurich) FARFETCHED F
52、ABLES, 1950 PLAYS AND PLAYERS, 1952 SELECTED PROSE, 1953 SHAW ON MUSIC, 1955 THE ILLUSIONS OF SOCIALISM, 1956 SHAW ON THE THEATRE, 1958 AN UNFINISHED NOVEL, 1958 SHAWS DRAMATIC CRITICISM: 1895-1898, 1959 HOW TO BECOME A MUSICAL CRITIC, 1960 PLATFORM AND PULPIT, 1961 SHAW ON SHAKESPEARE, 1961 (ed. by
53、 E. Wilson) THE MATTER WITH IRELAND, 1962 G.B.S. ON MUSIC, 1962 RELIGIOUS SPEECHES, 1963 HEARTBREAK HOUSE, 1964 THE COMPLETE PREFACES OF BERNARD SHAW, 1965 SHAW ON RELIGION, 1967 SHAW: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1969-70 (2 vols.) THE ROAD TO EQUALITY, 1971 COLLECTED MUSIC CRITICISM, 1973 BERNARD SHAWS PRACTI
54、CAL POLITICS, 1976 THE PORTABLE BERNARD SHAW, 1977 THE GREAT COMPOSERS, 1978 THE COLLECTED SCREENPLAYS OF BERNARD SHAW, 1980 EARLY TEXTS, 1981 (12 vols.) SHAWS MUSIC, 1981 (3 vols.) SHAW ON DICKENS, 1984 AGITATIONS, 1985 THE DIARIES, 1885-1897, 1985 SELECTED SHORTER PLAYS, 1987 COLLECTED LETTERS, 19
55、65-88 (4 vols.) BERNARD SHAWS BOOK REVIEWS, 1991 THE COMPLETE PREFACES, 1993 THE DRAMA OBSERVED, 1993 UNPUBLISHED SHAW, 1996 Below are words of wisdom in the form of inspirational quotes and motivational quotes by George Bernard Shaw : A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but mo
56、re useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say Why not? George Bernard Shaw Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. George Bernard Shaw A
57、 little learning is a dangerous thing, but we must take that risk because a little is as much as our biggest heads can hold. George Bernard Shaw The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they cant find them, make them. George Bern
58、ard Shaw We dont stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. George Bernard Shaw When I was a young man I observed than nine out of ten things I did were failures. I didnt want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work George Bernard Shaw A happy family is but an earli
59、er heaven. George Bernard Shaw Gambling promises the poor what property performs for the rich something for nothing. George Bernard Shaw He who has never hoped can never despair. George Bernard Shaw If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well dance with it. George Bernard Shaw Life
60、 isnt about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. George Bernard Shaw In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it. George Bernard Shaw We must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy. George Bernard Shaw Li
61、fe is not a brief candle. It is a splendid torch that I want to make burn as brightly as possible before handing on to future generations. George Bernard Shaw Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. George Bernard Shaw Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window
62、 through which you must see the world. George Bernard Shaw Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get. George Bernard Shaw People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I dont believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the peop
63、le who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they cant find them, make them. George Bernard Shaw Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will. George Bernard Shaw We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. George Bernard Shaw.精品资料。欢迎使用。高考资源网w。w-w*k&s%5￥u高考资源网w。w-w*k&s%5￥u
