George Bernard Shaw
The dominant force in English drama for half a century, Shaw used comedy to challenge conventional morality, capitalism, and romantic illusion. A committed socialist and Fabian, he won the Nobel Prize in 1925 but refused to accept the money. His prefaces are masterpieces of polemical prose.
Works
- PygmalionComedy about a flower girl transformed into a cultured lady through speech lessons
- Major BarbaraPlay questioning war, poverty, and morality through an heiress and idealistic professor
- Heartbreak HouseTragicomedy set in a household on eve of destruction during world conflict
- Saint JoanHistorical drama portraying the trial and canonization of Joan of Arc
- Man and SupermanComedy-drama about supermen, life force, and revolutionary ideas in human destiny