Who's Afraid of Bernard Shaw?: Some Personalities in Shaw's Plays

242 Pages·2011·7.09 MB·English

by  Stanley Weintraub

LITERARY CRITICISM
“Splendid. Tis book continually surprises and entertains with its
revelations about Shaw’s engagement with an impressive array of
Who’s Afraid
historical and contemporary fgures, ranging from Jesus to Virginia
Woolf. Tis is a virtuoso performance by a maestro of Shaw
studies.”—A. M. Gibbs, author of Bernard Shaw: A Life
of Bernard Shaw?
“Ur-Shavian Stanley Weintraub’s great virtues as a writer are stunning
erudition and a consistently high level of readability. Again and
again, his scholarship is illuminating—alive with original fndings Some Personalities in Shaw’s Plays
that make his essays proftable and exciting to read.”—Charles A.
Carpenter, author of Bernard Shaw as Artist-Fabian
1
People known to Bernard Shaw had every reason to fear becoming
recognizable characters in his plays. He turned Beatrice Webb into a
witchlike virago in Te Millionairess; former prime minister H. H. As- Stanley Weintraub
quith into an aloof, incompetent fuddy-duddy in Back to Methuselah;
Winston Churchill into an aspiring, blowhard politician in John Bull’s
Other Island; and Lawrence of Arabia into the eccentric army private
Napoleon Alexander Trotsky Meek in Too True to Be Good. However,
as eminent Shaw scholar Stanley Weintraub reveals in this exquisite
volume, Shaw’s relationships to real or imagined personalities could be
both curiously unexpected and deliciously complex.
Featuring fgures as varied as Julius Caesar, Zulu king Cetewayo, Noël
Coward, Edward Elgar, Virginia Woolf, Benjamin Disraeli, and Edward
VIII, this volume brilliantly demonstrates how Shaw put something of
himself into all of his “people.” Te result is a book that is consistently
revealing, intriguing, and entertaining.
Stanley Weintraub, Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Arts and
Humanities at Pennsylvania State University, is the author of over ffy
books, including Private Shaw and Public Shaw, Journey to Heartbreak,
Victoria: An Intimate Biography, and Silent Night: Te Story of the World
War I Christmas Truce.
A volume in the Florida Bernard Shaw series
edited by R. F. Dietrich
Front cover: George Bernard Shaw, courtesy of the Library of Congress.
University Press of Florida
www.upf.com upf
the florida
ISBN 978-0-8130-3726-4
bernard shaw
,!7IA8B3-adhcge! series
Weintraub Who’s Afraid of Bernard Shaw?
Who’s Afraid of Bernard Shaw?
The Florida Bernard Shaw Series
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
Who’s Afraid
of Bernard Shaw?
Some Personalities in Shaw’s Plays
Stanley Weintraub
· Foreword by R. F. Dietrich ·
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2011 by Stanley Weintraub
Printed in the United States of America. Tis book is printed on Glatfelter
Natures Book, a paper certifed under the standards of the Forestry
Stewardship Council (FSC). It is a recycled stock that contains 30 percent
post-consumer waste and is acid-free.
All rights reserved
16 15 14 13 12 11 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weintraub, Stanley, 1929–
Who’s afraid of Bernard Shaw? : some personalities in Shaw’s plays / Stanley
Weintraub ; foreword by R. F. Dietrich.
p. cm.—(Te Florida Bernard Shaw series)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-3726-4 (acid-free paper)
1. Shaw, Bernard, 1856–1950—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PR5367.W45 2011
822.'912—dc22 2011011177
Te University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State
University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida
Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International
University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of
Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University
of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
For Michael Pharand, Shavian & Disraelian
Funding to assist in publication of this book was generously provided
by the David and Rachel Howie Foundation.
Contents
Foreword xi
Borrowing People: A Preface xiii
1. Shaw’s Jesus and Judas: Passion without “Passion” 1
2. A Shavian Caesar 17
3. Schiller’s Die Räuber and Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell 29
4. Shaw’s “Secretary for America” and General John Burgoyne 39
5. Cetewayo: Shaw’s Hero from Africa 51
6. Disraeli in Shaw 65
7. Shaw’s Musician: Edward Elgar 79
8. Shaw’s Goddess: Lady Colin Campbell 99
9. Shaw’s Sculptress: Kathleen Scott 118
10. Eugene O’Neill: Te Shavian Dimension 139
11. Noël Coward and the Avuncular Shaw 161
12. King Magnus and King Minus: A Play and a Playlet 175
13. Who’s Afraid of Bernard Shaw? Virginia Woolf and GBS 194
Index 219