Bernard Shaw: v. 2

The second in a three-volume biography of Bernard Shaw which looks at the man in his prime. In this period, Shaw begins the "terrible adventure" of marriage; and with Granville Barker he revolutionizes the British stage, becoming a great idol of the young. Believing that an author's business is to mind everyone's business, Shaw takes an active role in influencing socialism. The resulting great middle plays are concerned with everything from disarmament to medical ethics.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: the happy accidents of marriage, two views of sea air, and Shaw repairs to Adelphi Terrace; on heroes and hero-worship - an essay on "The Perfect Wagnerite" and "Caesar and Cleopatra". Shaw writes "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" and Ellen Terry, who stars in it, marries one of the actors. "Three Plays for Puritans" versus the pornography in Victorian values; Fabian manoeuvres in the Boer war. Shaw drafts "Fabianism and the Empire" and fails to influence the general election. Part 2: Shaw takes up with some unexpected characters and is translated; in which Max Beerbohm begins his caricatures and Charlotte Shaw persists with her holidays; a short section upstaging Shakespeare with "The Admirable Bashville"; the comedy and philosophy of "Man and Superman"; the dreams and realities of "John Bull's Other Island"; Granville Barker comes to court; the curtain goes up on "Major Barbara" "The alleluias will get me yet". Part 3: Fabian bedfellows at the turn of the century and the difficult birth of "Fabianism and the Fiscal Question"; H.G. Wells joins the Fabian cast and becomes Shaw's protagonist; a revolution at the court unites Granville Barker and Lillah McCarthy; concerning the medical ethics of "The Doctor's Dilemma"; an invasion of the West End and some dreams of a national theatre. Part 4: an exhibition of portraits. Shaw sits to Rodin in Paris and floats up in a balloon above Wandsworth gas works; a hectic section that begins with a look into the rectory at Ayot St Lawrence and a glance through numerous postcards, continues with a visit to the Fabian Summer School and a career round the continent, and ends with a strange encounter with a Swedish playwright; an interesting discourse on a disquisitory play, "Getting Married", and staying married; which takes us outdoors for some alarming road-adventures; a treatise on how to handle biographers and another on how to quarrel properly demonstrated by G.K. Chesterton; the attractions of censorship and how to resist them as revealed by the stage histories of "The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet" and "Press Cuttings". with assistance from Lady Gregory and W.B. Yeats. Part 5: Shaw's invocations to the God of Tolstoy and the Muse of Henry James followed by an analysis of "Misalliance" and the case re-emphasised for a national theatre; further particulars in the shocking history of Mr Wells. Beatrice Webb produces her minority report and Shaw resigns from the Fabian Executive; a diversion of skits and farces; a jaunt to Jamaica and some misadventures in company with a chauffeur and a secretary. The success of "Fanny's First Play" and the autobiographical impulses in "Androcles and the Lion"; what the playwright said to the actress - Mrs Patrick Campbell, "Pygmalion", and the nature of love and comedy. Part 6: concerning fame and anonymity - the origins and early days of the "New Statesman"; the history and rehearsals of "Pygmalion"; (Part contents).