It was Shaws general contention that all great art was didactic; it was his specific contention that he wrote plays to convert people to his opinions on Social Economy, Political Economy and Vital Economy. In this study of Bernard Shaws plays, originally published in 1971, Leon Hugo examines the implications of these contentions.
Professor Hugos book, a lively and enthusiastic reappraisal of the literary and dramatic quality of Shaws plays, viewed in the light of their relationship to his social and political ideas, will be of value both as an introduction to new readers of Shaw and as a stimulus to the re-examination of many conventional and often dismissive views of his achievement as a dramatic poet.
In the first part of the book, Shaws Fabian socialism, his political philosophy, and his belief in Creative Evolution are examined. In the second part, the author appraises Shaws plays by relating them to his ideas and by assessing them as literature. Among the plays discussed at length are: Mrs Warrens Profession, Candida, Caesar and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, Heartbreak House, and St Joan. In the third part an assessment is made of Shaws influence as a teacher and dramatist and the author argues that Shaw at his best achieves didactic and aesthetic unity in his plays.
