英国文学导读 (52).pdf

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and the leading dramatist of his generation. He was the first person to be awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Academy Award. He received the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature and sharing the 1938 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film version of Pygmalion. It is Shaw who brought the English plays back to serious social problems instead of being merely a form of amusement. 1. Life • George Bernard Shaw was born July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland. • His education was irregular, due to his dislike of any organized training. • In 1876, Shaw gave up his job and also went to London, deciding to become a writer. • Shaw struggled hard, working on his first novels, which were widely rejected by publishers. • Shaw soon turned his attention to politics and took interest in socialist theories. He joined the Fabian Society in 1884. • Shaw’s career as a dramatist began in 1892, when his first play Widower’s House was staged. 2. Major works Widowers House (1892) Mrs. Warrens Profession (1893) Pygmalion (1912) 3. Problem plays The mission of Shaw’s drama was to reveal the moral, political and economic truth from a radical reformist point of view. 1) Structurally and thematically, Shaw followed the great traditions of realism. 2) Most of his plays are concerned with political, economic, moral, or religious problems. 3) His plays have one passion, that is, “Indignation against oppression and exploitation, against hypocrisy and lying, against prostitution and slavery, against poverty, dirt and disorder.” 4. Features • Shaw’s characters are the representatives of ideas which may change during the paly. Besides,