SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD

born July 26, 1856, Dublin, Ire. died Nov. 2, 1950, Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, Eng. George Bernard Shaw, photograph by Yousuf Karsh. Irish comic dramatist, literary critic, and Socialist propagandist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. Additional reading Works that are primarily biography include Archibald Henderson, George Bernard Shaw, Man of the Century (1956, reissued in 2 vol., 1972); Frank Harris, Bernard Shaw (1931); Hesketh Pearson, Bernard Shaw (1942, reissued 1987; also published as G.B.S., 1942, reissued 1952, and as George Bernard Shaw, 1963); William Irvine, The Universe of G.B.S. (1949); St. John Greer Ervine, Bernard Shaw (1956); Allan Chappelow (ed.), Shaw the Villager and Human Being (1961); B.C. Rosset, Shaw of Dublin: The Formative Years (1964); J. Percy Smith, The Unrepentant Pilgrim (1965), a study of Shaw's twenties and thirties; Margot Peters, Bernard Shaw and the Actresses (1980); Arnold Silver, Bernard Shaw: The Darker Side (1982), a psychological study; and Michael Holroyd, Bernard Shaw, 4 vol. (198892). Early works of criticism include Henry L. Mencken, George Bernard Shaw: His Plays (1905, reprinted 1977); and G.K. Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw, new ed. (1935, reissued 1961). T.F. Evans (ed.), Shaw: The Critical Heritage (1976), collects contemporary criticism, 18921951. Later criticism includes E. Strauss, Bernard Shaw: Art and Socialism (1942, reprinted 1978); Eric Bentley, Bernard Shaw (1947, reissued 1976); Alick West, George Bernard Shaw: A Good Man Fallen Among Fabians (1950); Arthur H. Nethercot, Men and Supermen, 2nd ed. (1966), an analysis of Shaw's characters; Julian B. Kaye, Bernard Shaw and the Nineteenth-Century Tradition (1958); Martin Meisel, Shaw and the Nineteenth-Century Theater (1963, reprinted 1984); Bernard F. Dukore, Bernard Shaw, Playwright: Aspects of Shavian Drama (1973); Eldon C. Hill, George Bernard Shaw (1978), an introductory study; Michael Holroyd (ed.), The Genius of Shaw: A Symposium (1979); Stanley Weintraub, The Unexpected Shaw: Biographical Approaches to G.B.S. and His Work (1982); Warren Sylvester Smith, Bishop of Everywhere: Bernard Shaw and the Life Force (1982), exploring aspects of Shaw's religiosity; A.M. Gibbs, The Art and Mind of Shaw (1983); and Nicholas Grene, Bernard Shaw, a Critical View (1984). Current criticism may be found in the journal Shaw (annual).