|
|
|
Biography Popular Movements Against Traditional Spelling Theories of
|
George Bernhard Shaw was born on 26 July 1856 in Dublin. The Shaws belonged to the protestand minority of Dublin. His mother was an amateur singer and his father a corn trader. His mother left the family 1873 for London taking both daughters with
her and since then G. B. Shaw had lived alone with his father. 1876 the young G. B. Shaw followed his mother to London and during the first 5 years there he wrote five novelswhich were all turned down by the publishers. In 1884 he joined the Fabian Society in which he fought for a respectable socialism by speaking as often as possible in the public about political and social questions. His prior subjects were the increasing unemployment and the growing poverty in Great Britain. After meeting William Archer he got a job as an art or drama critic for several newspapers. When he was in his forties he married Charlotte Payne Townshend In 1897 the first of his plays "Devil`s Disciple" had been
staged in New York. From now on his plays were inquired on many stages
in "Androcles and the Lion" the first play of G. B. Shaw translated into Shavian was released in 1913. It is a fairy-tale about the description of the early christianity. In 1914 his play "Pygmalion" was published with great success all over the world. The play was originaly written for Mrs. Patrick Campbell who then played the role of Eliza Doolittle at the first performance in England at the Trees Theatre in London. Shaw now was on the peak of his career. His popularity became less especially in the times of Word War I. He published in 1914 the writing "Commonsense about the War" in which he critizised the british foreign policy and supported the irish rebel Roger Casement. As a result the press claimed a boycott of his plays and the dramatist club expeled him. Besides these facts the audience sought a lighter entertainment than Shaws plays. Between 1923 and 1929 Shaw produced no new plays but wrote on "The
Intelligent Woman`s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism" which When his last success on stage was years ago he agreed to his plays being filmed but on conditions that he retained complete control over the scripts. "Pygmalion" was filmed for the first time in 1938 which he accompanied. In 1943 his wife Charlotte died and seven years later on 2 November 1950 he died himself at the age of 94. In his last will he donated his whole possesion to the development of a new phonetic alphabet. After his death the works of George Bernard Shaw suffered a decline but his works came back in favour when his play "Pygmalion" was adapted as the Musical "My Fair Lady" in 1958. |
One
of their neighbours was Chichester Bell who developed a phonetic alphabet
which resembles Shavian in some features.
England.
"Candila" and "John Bull`s other island" were played
with a huge success at the Royal Court Theater in London. He was also
involved in the campaign for a national theatre and fought together
with other playwrights against censorship in England. Lord Chamberlain
who was the censor forbade one his plays. In answer to it the government
set a parliamentary investigation committee in charge which had to decide
about censorship. But G. B. Shaw did not achieved the abolition of the
censorship like he claimed it.
completion
lasted four years. In this period he was awarded with The Nobel Prize
in Literarture in 1925 for his work which is marked byboth idealism
and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular
poetic beauty.