George+Bernard+Shaw

 Bowles and Hergott 1 Anna Bowles and Naomi Hergott Ms. Chase ENG 322 10 April 2009 George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and critic of the twentieth century. He believed in equal income and defended women’s rights. Shaw is sometimes referred to as a “second Shakespeare.” Shaw was born on July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland. His father, George Carr Shaw, was in the wholesale grain trade and had a drinking problem. Shaw’s father died in 1885, and Shaw’s mother moved the family to a better neighborhood. Shaw attended Wesleyan Connexion Scool, a private school near Dalkey, Dublin’s Central Model School, and Dublin English Scientific and Commercial Day School. In 1876, he moved to London to join his mother and sister, who had previously moved there. Shaw began his career by writing novels and music and theatre criticism. With time, he gained respect in the arts world and eventually wrote drama criticism for the Saturday Review. In 1884, Shaw joined the socialist Fabian society. Henrik Ibsen greatly influenced Shaw; and Shaw helped introduce Ibsen to Britian through his book __The Quintessence of Ibenism__. Shaw married Charlotte Payne- Townshend and he also carried on a romantic correspondence with Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the star of //Pygmalion//. Shaw’s fist plays were considered “unpleasant” because they dealt with moral and social problems. He then wrote more entertaining plays, such as //Pygmalion//. When Shaw’s essay “Common Sense about the War” was published, his popularity decreased because the essay was considered unpatriotic. However, he became popular again with //Saint Joan//, his masterpiece, in 1924. In 1925, Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Over the course of his life, Shaw wrote over fifty plays. He died on November 2, 1950 in his home.

"George Bernard Shaw." __The Literature Network__. 2000. Jalic Inc. 8 April 2009. .

This site provides an indepth look at Shaw's life. It discusses his early life, his marriage, and it also provides brief summaries for a few of his plays. Though it does not appear to be extrememly long, it crams a lot of information into a few paragraphs. The site seems to focuse more on the positive aspects of Shaw, however, it does mention that he was occasionally "linked to other women" while he was married. The site also provides a list of Shaw's plays, short stories, essays, as well as books which all have links to discussions.

"George Bernard Shaw Biography." __Notable Biographies__. 2007. Advameg Inc. 10 April 2009. .

This site is organized into sections about Shaw's early life, his different types of writing, and finally, his plays. This organization makes it much easier for the reader to find information on what he or she is looking for. The site provides background information on many of his pieces and it also briefly discusses how world events influenced him and his writing. The author talks about how Shaw became a socialist and how that brought him to begin writing on different types of subjects. This source manages to both discuss Shaw as a person, as well as Shaw as a writer.

"George Bernard Shaw, The Nobel Prize in Literature." __Nobel Lectures__. 1969. Ed. Horst Frenz. Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam. 10 April 2009. .

This source focuses more on Shaw's plays rather than his actual life. However, the author does provide the reader with some background information on Shaw. This source provides a good view on the type of things Shaw was interested in writing about. It also provides brief summaries for a few of the plays, which are useful. The author also gives an analysis of the differences in Shaw's plays which is useful to the reader because it shows one person's view of his style.

Liukkonen, Petri. "George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)." 2008. Kuusankosken kaupunginkirjasto. 9 April 2009. .

Liukkonen looks at Shaw's life from a broad perspective, talking about his positive contributions as well as some of his not-so-positive characteristics. This source manages to give a full description of Shaw's entire life while including references to many of his plays along the way. The source also contains a separate list of many of his works. An accurate summary of Shaw is found at the beginning when the author briefly describes him as a "freethinker, defender of women's rights, and advocate of equality of income." There are also many quotes from many of his plays found on this site.