ENG 497 Seminar in English Literature: George Bernard Shaw
This seminar will focus on the kinds of comedy and satire that Shaw
developed (and sometimes created) over the 56 years of his career as a
playwright. It will also focus on the different but complementary ways
Shaw devised to reach his public: performance and publication. Seminar
members will research initial productions as well as revivals and how they
were received by the public; seminar members will also research the
reception of printed versions of plays with specially written prefaces.
(Shaw was the first dramatist to assume readers could understand his plays
as well or better than performance audiences.) Texts for the seminar will
include works like Arms and the Man, Man and Superman,
The Doctor's Dilemma, Heartbreak House, Back to Methuselah
, Saint Joan, and In King Charles' Golden Days. Looking back
over Shaw's career, his contemporary Thomas Mann affirmed: “Convinced that
the aesthetic element creative joy is the most effective instrument of
enlightened teaching, he tirelessly wielded the shining sword of his word
and wit against the most appalling power threatening the triumph of the
experiment stupidity.” (Not offered 2005-2006)
Credits: 1
