Bernard Shaw is an English playwright and an Irishman by descent. He is considered one of the founders of the "drama of ideas", writer, essayist, one of the reformers of theatrical art of the XX century. He is the second one in popularity rating (after Shakespeare), the author of plays in the English theater, the Nobel Prize winner in literature and also the Oscar winner.
Early Years
He was born in Dublin on July 26, 1856. The childhood years of the future writer were overshadowed by the discord between his parents and his father's craving for alcohol. In 1871th, after graduation, he began to work in the company for the sale of lands. In the same year, he became a cashier, but in 4 years of work here he became hating work and moved to London. His mother lived there, after the divorce. From a young age, Shaw saw himself as a writer, but the articles he sent to various editorial offices were not published. For 9 years, Bernard received a single fee of 15 shillings for a single article, although at that time he composed as many as 5 novels.
Bernard was able to achieve good results in camera work in a relatively short time thanks to the Fabian Society, which he had been in since 1884th. Pursuing the goal of self-development and self-education, the writer was a frequent visitor to the reading room in the British Museum. Here he met with U. Archer and thanks to whom he began his journalistic activity. After working for a start as a freelance correspondent, Shaw worked as a music critic for six years and then worked for three and a half years in the 'Saturday Review' as a theater critic. The reviews he wrote were a three-volume collection, 'Our Theatres in the Nineties' that published in 1932th.
Popularity and Later Life
His debut in the drama was the plays "Widowers' Houses" and "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1892 and 1893 respectively). They were meant to be staged in an independent theater, which was a closed club, so Shaw could afford the courage to portray the sides of life that usually bypassed contemporary art. These compositions were included in the series "Plays Unpleasant". In the same year the world saw "Plays Pleasant", and "representatives" of this cycle began to penetrate the stage of large metropolitan theaters in the late 90's. The first great success was brought in the "The Devil's Disciple" written in 1897, which was part of the third cycle "Three Plays for Puritans".
The starry hour of the playwright came in 1904 with the change of leadership of the theater "Cort" which included a number of his plays in the repertoire such as "Candide", "Major Barbara", "Man and Superman". After successful productions, the writer finally established the reputation of the author who boldly deals with public morality and traditional ideas about history and refutes what was considered an axiom. The contribution to the golden treasury of drama was the resounding success of "Pygmalion" (1913).
During the First World War Bernard had to meet with a huge amount of disapproval and direct insults that were voiced by his audience, as well as peers, newspaper critics, and magazines. Despite this reaction, he continues his creative activity, and in 1917th begins a new stage in his creative biography. The tragedy "Saint John", staged in 1924th, returned to Bernard his former glory, and in 1925th he became a Nobel Prize laureate in literature, but refuses monetary compensation.
At the age of 70 in the 30s Shaw goes on a journey around the world, visits to India, South Africa, New Zealand, the USA. He also visited the USSR, where in July 1931th he had a personal meeting with Stalin. As a socialist, Shaw sincerely welcomed the changes taking place in the country of the Soviet Union, and after this visit became a supporter of Stalinism.
Last Years
Bernard Shaw wrote until his very old age. In 1948 and 1950 were written his last plays, "Buoyant Billions" and "Farfetched Fables". Remaining in a completely sensible mind, the famous playwright passed away on November 2, 1950.
