Bernard Shaw: A Life

A revealing, authoritative, and intimate portrait of one of the 20th century’s most notable writers and social critics.

Bernard Shaw fashioned public images of himself that belied the nature and depth of his emotional experiences and the complexity of his intellectual outlook. In this absorbing biography, noted Shavian authority A. M. Gibbs debunks many of the elements that form the foundation of Shaw’s self-created legend—from his childhood (which was not the loveless experience he claimed publicly), to his sexual relationships with several women, to his marriage, his politics, his Irish identity, and his controversial philosophy of Creative Evolution.

Drawing on previously unpublished materials, including never-before-seen photographs and early sketches by Shaw, Gibbs offers a fresh perspective and brings us closer than ever before to the human being behind the masks.

A revealing, authoritative, and intimate portrait of one of the 20th century’s most notable writers and social critics.
 
Bernard Shaw fashioned public images of himself that belied the nature and depth of his emotional experiences and the complexity of his intellectual outlook. In this absorbing biography, noted Shavian authority A. M. Gibbs debunks many of the elements that form the foundation of Shaw’s self-created legend--from his childhood (which was not the loveless experience he claimed publicly), to his sexual relationships with several women, to his marriage, his politics, his Irish identity, and his controversial philosophy of Creative Evolution.
Drawing on previously unpublished materials, including never-before-seen photographs and early sketches by Shaw, Gibbs offers a fresh perspective and brings us closer than ever before to the human being behind the masks.
 


 

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A.M. Gibbs is Emeritus Professor of English at Macquarie University, Sydney, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is a graduate of the University of Melbourne and of Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is known internationally as a leading authority on Shaw, about whom he has published many books and essays, and is a member of the founding Council of the International Shaw Society. His previous publications include The Art and Mind of Shaw: Essays in Criticism, Shaw: Interviews and Recollections, and A Bernard Shaw Chronology.