Next Tuesday, 26th of July, the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw would complete 160 years old. This post is a tribute to him. In his time, he was a sort of activist for political education. Despite, his very contradictory thoughts, for example being a democracy advocate and to praise authoritarian regimes. I think he deserve a tribute because his extensive political writing, his attempt to educate the people on economics, politics, gender equality and governance. This post is a summary of three articles. The first was published at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw. The second was published at http://digi.library.tu.ac.th/thesis/lib/1011/02chapter1.pdf. The third was at http://econc10.bu.edu/economic_systems/Theory/NonMarx_Socialism/Fabian_soc/george_bernard_shaw_and_the_fabi.htm
George Bernard Shaw ( 1856-1950 ) was a Irish (from English parents), playwright, music and theatre critic and polemicist whose influence on theatre, culture and politics extended from 1880 to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan Arc(1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled yo establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. Following a political awakening, he joined the Fabian Society, a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principle of democratic socialism. As founders of the Labour Party in 1900, the Fabian society has influenced British politics to the present day. He sought to introduce a new realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political, social and religious ideas. In 1938, he provided the screenplay for a filmed version of Pygmalion for which he received an Academy Award. His appetite for politics and controversy remained undiminished and by the late 1920 he renounced democratic socialism and spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left. Since Shaw's death scholarly and critical opinion has varied about his work, but he has regularly been rated as second only to Shakespeare among English-language dramatists. From 1895 to 1898, Shaw was the theatre critic for the newspaper The Saturday Review. And he campaigned against the artificial conventions and hypocrisies of the Victorian theatre and called for plays of real ideas and true characters. Shaw's political and social commentaries were published in various Fabian tracts, in essays, in two books, in innumerable newspaper and journal articles. The majority of Fabian Society's tracts were published anonymously, representing the voice of the society, although the society's secretary Edward Pease later confirmed Shaw's authorship. After the turn of the 20th century, Shaw increasingly propagated his ideas through the medium of his plays. In his lifetime, Shaw professed many beliefs, often contradictory. This inconsistency was partly an intentional provocation. Less consistently maintained were Shaw's views on religion. Having in his youth proclaimed himself atheist. By the early 20th century he termed himself a "mystic", In 1913 he declared that he was not religious "in the sectarian sense", aligning himself with Jesus. In the The Jewish Chronicle, he wrote in 1932, "In every country you can find who have a phobia against Jews, Armenians, Negroes, Freemasons, Irishmen, or simply foreigners. Political parties are not above, exploiting these fears and jealousies." In its obituary tribute to Shaw, The Times Literary Supplement concluded: He was no originator of ideas. He was an insatiable adopter and adapter, an incomparable prestidigitator with the thoughts of the forerunners. Nietzsche, Samuel Butler, Marx, Shelley, Blake, Dickens, Beethoven and Wagner all had their applications and misapplications. By bending to their service all the faculties of a powerful mind, and by every artifice of argument, he carried their thoughts as far as they would reach, so far beyond their sources that they came to us with the vitality of the newly created.
George Bernard Shaw is considered as one of the greatest playwrights of British theatre for his remarkable literary works both in the field of social criticism and in his theatrical reformation that is regarded by later critics and readers as a milestone of modern drama. He had lived through a crucial period of radical changes in European societies from the late 19th century to early 20th century. At the turn of the century, the major social movements of Realism and Feminism became prominent ideologies in part as a result of the intellectual and scientific developments. Shaw did not agree with Darwin's theory of Natural Selection and Freud's psychoanalysis, both of which implied that men were unable to determine or control thier own wills in the face of outer factors. On the contrary, he had a strong belief in human potential driven by revolutionary passion to bring humanity towards progress through social reformations for a better society. Shaw was one of leading members of the Fabian society, a British socialist association. The principles of socialism were parallel to the feminist moviments. These social and political movements shared the same interest in human equality that offered concerns further on the subjects of education, suitable professions, financial independence, etc. Shaw was an active socialist and feminist, attempted to educate women about the fundamentals of socialism in his book, The Intelligent Women's guide to Socialism and Capitalism (1928). Moreover, there were many women in Shaw's life whose unconventional thoughts and actions had an influence on his advocacy of socialism and feminism. Due to the rise of realism and feminism in the late 19th century, people started to question the social amd moral values of the 19th century Victorian society that used to be accepted as the pillars of society. The Victorian conventions were examined through a realistic perspective which revealed a decadent and infected side of the society. Female characters in the 19th century literature were mostly portrayed as a helpless weaker sex dominated by male characters and feature old clichés about female roles and conventional sexual morality of Victorian ideals. By the last decade of the century, the figure of the "new woman" became powerful source of themes and characterization in modern literature. The creation of female characters associated with feminist ideals were introduced, and the "heroines who refused to conform to the traditional feminine role, challenged accepted ideals of marriage and maternity, chose to work for a living, became commonplace in the works of both major and minor writers and were firmly indentified by readers and reviewers as "new women". Shaw saw that the new dramatic form of realistic theatre could be used as a potential channel to communicate with his contemporary audience about socialist and feminist ideas. For Shaw, the theatre was not merely a matter of pleasure only but it could represent unpleasant things happening in reality. Shaw affirmed the use of theatre as a venue for debating over social and political ideas in his The Author's Apology to Mrs. Warren's Profession that he was "convinced that art is the subtlest, the most seductive, the most effective instrument of moral propaganda in the world" The dialogues in Shaw's plays are between characters that represent different ideologies to "discuss" the "unbearable faces of truth". The "discussion" part in Shaw's plays allows him to create polemics through his Socratic style dialogues that draw his audience's attention to see them as "models of a dialetic of rational deliberation where common and uncommon understanding meet and fuse promoting new awareness, new visions, and new questions, thus acting as agents of moral-self discovery". Unlike other modern playwrights who presented serious issues by using dramatic elements of tragedy, Shaw chose the genre of comedy to make a parody of human's behaviors and thoughts. Another theatrical invention of Shaw is his exceptionally talkative characters, especially his leading ladies, created to be impressively used in the play's discussion scenes. In some plays, the characterization of the leading ladies embodies the playwrights's views on feminism and they are vividly dramatized in his creative realistic theatre of "Drama of Discussion".
Shaw's pragmatic approach to politics and his welfare views along with his talents made a very distinct contribution to the society. He became famous as a socialist agitator, speaking publicly all over London, on political and social questions. The Fabian Society was a socialist organization, dedicated to transforming Britain into a socialist state. The difference from other socialist organizations was that they were to do it not through revolution, as Marx advised, but by systematic, progressive legislation, enhanced by persuasion and mass education. The Fabian Society later went on serve as an instrument in the foundation of the London School of Economics (LSE) and Labor Party. This particular ideology fit perfectly into Shaw's believes, who, even though he had admiration for "Das Kapital", still recognized the flaws with Marx's economic ideas. He did not quite accept the economic principles set forth in the book and realized that they would have little impact on the working class. The way to get social and economic development according to them was through influencing the public in that direction. This was to be accomplished not through mass organization, but by educating those that have political power or could have power to make a difference. From there the reforms will spread on to the rest of society. By the end of the 1930s the Fabian Society had disintegrated and Shaw concentrated in his work as a playwright and journalist. His art will remain for generations to come and will probably influence many others. We have witnessed the collapse of his ideal system in 1989 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and transition from socialism to market economy in the Eastern European countries. By all means the equality system had plenty of flaws and as we have seen is definitely inapplicable. This fact by no means diminishes the efforts he made to convince others in his beliefs. Shaw will remain one of the greatest playwrights in 20th century and his works will always be admired. While his ideas as part of the Fabian Society platform, were not seen implemented, the Society served as a basis for such long lasting establishments as the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Labor Party, which in a far-fetched way fulfills his dreams to educate the people.
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