George Bernard Shaw: Harlequin or Patriot?

George Bernard Shaw: Harlequin or Patriot?

While many writers and artists are discovered after their time, George Bernard Shaw was a source of fascination to his contemporaries. John Palmer takes a stab at debunking what he believed to be myths about Shaw in his book "George Bernard Shaw: Harlequin or Patriot?". Despite his insistence throughout the book that he likes Shaw and his writing, Palmer still feels a need to assert some dominance over Shaw: "I claim, indeed, to admire Bernard Shaw for sounder and weightier reasons than have yet occurred to Bernard Shaw himself". Palmer's statement may be reflective of a larger jealousy and resentment that Shaw's contemporaries felt toward his immense commercial success.

The title of the eighth chapter summarizes Palmer's true pursuit: "The Real Shaw". Despite this, Palmer seems highly self-aware that he has set out to define someone that is immensely difficult to define--indeed, as he lists other people who have attempted to do so, it seems as though there are more works written about Shaw than by Shaw. Such texts leave the reader with more questions than answers, despite being filled with information about George Bernard Shaw. Perhaps it is not possible to understand a person using only what can be transcribed on paper.

John Palmer

New York Public Library

Century Company

March 1915

Book

English