Pygmalion and Politics: Shaw, According to His Contemporaries

George Bernard Shaw has served as a source of fascination for both his contemporaries and a modern audience. As he simultaneously enjoyed enormous success while rarely giving interviewss, mythology grew around him. Who was he? Books were published about him, although they often offered few answers. Some contemporaries seem to have set out to understand Shaw, knowing it was an impossible task.

John Palmer, one such writer, begins his book on Shaw by listing the many others who have tried and failed to know Shaw. Indeed, it appears as though there are more works written about Shaw than by Shaw. The eighth chapter of the book summarizes the pursuit of Palmer and every other person who has set out to write about Shaw: "The Real Shaw". His inability to arrive on a clear conclusion indicates that attempting to compact someone into digestible pieces--particularly a figure with celebrity status--is a fool's errand.

Another contemporary of Shaw's, Archibald Henderson, focused on Shaw's playwrighting in his article about Shaw. He compares Shaw to some of the most iconic writers of the time period, although many of the names he mentions in the article are now unknown. People are not necessarily perfect judges of who will stand the test of time. One name that does warrant recognition is Mark Twain. Shaw being extolled next to Mark Twain might be the kind of praise that boosted Shaw to such epic mythological proportions. Although Shaw's work is undoubtedly a valuable contribution to English literature, only part of celebrity is earned. The public bestows fame.       

Chesterdon's George Bernard Shaw is another book about Shaw that appeared while Shaw was still alive. It was published in 1909, when Shaw was 53.

Chesterdon touches base on both large and small pieces of Bernard Shaw. His heritage was Irish, and Chesterdon saw this as being a focal enough piece of his identity to include a chapter on this heritage. Like most others, Chesterdon was left to grasp at straws in an attempt to understand such an enigmatic figure. He seemed to acknowledge the complexity of the task at hand, writing this book as a first edition. He may have planned to write further editions as Shaw's life unfolded. Chesterdon, like many other scholars of the time, wanted desperately to make some sense of this figure whose voice was heard on stages all over the world.

However, Chesterdon displays much more confidence in his conclusions of Shaw--he claims to understand him, although he gives little hint as to what exactly he understands about him. He gives the impression that there is some unknown side of Shaw that he is privy to--"Most people either say that they agree with Bernard Shaw or that they do not understand him. I am the only person who understands him, and I do not agree with him". To make such a statement is a bold assertion. In reality, all that we can know for certain about Shaw is what he has left behind: his writing.