George Bernard Shaw: Collected Articles, Lectures, Essays and Letters (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Essays, lectures, and letters on drama, politics, religion, society by a Nobel laureateBy George Bernard Shaw
Length45h 15m
About this audiobook
George Bernard Shaw: Collected Articles, Lectures, Essays and Letters gathers the polemical, critical, and personal prose of one of modern literature's most combative intelligences. Across journalism, public addresses, essays, and correspondence, Shaw's prose displays the same paradoxical wit, argumentative precision, and moral theatricality that animate his plays. Situated within late Victorian and Edwardian debates over socialism, art, religion, war, and social reform, the volume reveals Shaw as both literary stylist and public intellectual, turning topical controversy into enduring intellectual drama. Shaw's background helps explain the breadth and urgency of these writings. Born in Dublin in 1856 and later established in London, he became a central figure in the Fabian Society, a music and theatre critic, and a dramatist determined to make the stage an instrument of ideas. His lifelong impatience with convention—political, aesthetic, and moral—shaped a body of prose meant not merely to comment on society but to provoke its reconsideration. This collection is recommended for readers seeking Shaw beyond the theatre: the critic, reformer, satirist, and correspondent. It will especially reward students of modern drama, political thought, and literary culture who wish to encounter a mind at once entertaining, exasperating, and inexhaustibly alive.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A comprehensive Introduction outlines these selected works' unifying features, themes, or stylistic evolutions.
- The Author Biography highlights personal milestones and literary influences that shape the entire body of writing.
- A Historical Context section situates the works in their broader era—social currents, cultural trends, and key events that underpin their creation.
- A concise Synopsis (Selection) offers an accessible overview of the included texts, helping readers navigate plotlines and main ideas without revealing critical twists.
- A unified Analysis examines recurring motifs and stylistic hallmarks across the collection, tying the stories together while spotlighting the different work's strengths.
- Reflection questions inspire deeper contemplation of the author's overarching message, inviting readers to draw connections among different texts and relate them to modern contexts.
- Lastly, our hand‐picked Memorable Quotes distill pivotal lines and turning points, serving as touchstones for the collection's central themes.
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics
Length45 hrs 15 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateApr 12, 2015
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
59PREFACE TO THE REVOLUTIONIST’S HANDBOOK
2Introduction
60FOREWORD
3Author Biography
61AND YET
4Historical Context
62I. ON GOOD BREEDING
5Synopsis (Selection)
63II. PROPERTY AND MARRIAGE
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6Quintessence Of Ibsenism (1891)
64III. THE PERFECTIONIST EXPERIMENT AT ONEIDA CREEK
7PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
65IV. MAN’S OBJECTION TO HIS OWN IMPROVEMENT
8PREFACE: 1913
66V. THE POLITICAL NEED FOR THE SUPERMAN
9PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
67VI. PRUDERY EXPLAINED
10THE TWO PIONEERS
68VII. PROGRESS AN ILLUSION
11IDEALS AND IDEALISTS
69VIII. THE CONCEIT OF CIVILIZATION
12THE WOMANLY WOMAN
70IX. THE VERDICT OF HISTORY
13THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ANTI-IDEALIST: EXTRAVAGANZAS
71X. THE METHOD
14THE OBJECTIVE ANTI-IDEALIST PLAYS
72Maxims For Revolutionists (1903)
15THE LAST FOUR PLAYS DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN
73First Aid to Critics: Preface toMajor Barbara(1905)
16THE LESSON OF THE PLAYS
74PREFACE
17WHAT IS THE NEW ELEMENT IN THE NORWEGIAN SCHOOL?
75On Doctors: Preface to TheDoctor’s Dilemma(1906)
18THE TECHNICAL NOVELTY IN IBSEN’S PLAYS
76PREFACE (pt. 1)
19NEEDED: AN IBSEN THEATRE
77PREFACE (pt. 2)
20The Impossibilities Of Anarchism (1895)
78The New Theology (1907)
21Anarchists and Socialists
79On Marriage: Preface toGetting Married
22Individualist Anarchism
80PREFACE TO GETTING MARRIED (pt. 1)
23Communist Anarchism
81PREFACE TO GETTING MARRIED (pt. 2)
24Democracy
82How to Write A Popular Play: An Essay (1909)
25The Anarchist Spirit
831
26The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Niblung’s Ring (1898)
842: WHY THE CRITICS ARE ALWAYS WRONG
27PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION
853: THE INTERPRETER OF LIFE
28PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
864: HOW THE GREAT DRAMATISTS TORTURE THE PUBLIC
29PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
87A Treatise on Parents and Children: An Essay (1910)
30PRELIMINARY ENCOURAGEMENTS
88PARENTS AND CHILDREN (pt. 1)
31THE RING OF THE NIBLUNGS
89PARENTS AND CHILDREN (pt. 2)
32THE RHINE GOLD
90On the Prospects of Christianity: Preface toAndrocles and the Lion(1912)
33WAGNER AS REVOLUTIONIST
91PREFACE ON THE PROSPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY (pt. 1)
34THE VALKYRIES
92PREFACE ON THE PROSPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY (pt. 2)
35SIEGFRIED
93What do Men of Letters Say? -The New York TimesArticles on War (1915)
36BACK TO OPERA AGAIN
94"Common Sense About the War" (pt. 1)
37SIEGFRIED AS PROTESTANT
95"Common Sense About the War" (pt. 2)
38PANACEA QUACKERY, OTHERWISE IDEALISM
96"Bennett States the German Case"
39DRAMATIC ORIGIN OF WOTAN
97Open Letter to President Wilson
40THE LOVE PANACEA
98Memories of Oscar Wilde (1916)
41NOT LOVE, BUT LIFE
99On Darwinism and Evolution: Preface toBack to Methuselah(1921)
42ANARCHISM NO PANACEA
100PREFACE (pt. 1)
43SIEGFRIED CONCLUDED
101PREFACE (pt. 2)
44NIGHT FALLS ON THE GODS
102Letter to Beatrice Webb (1898)
45A WAGNERIAN NEWSPAPER CONTROVERSY
103On Socialism: A Speech (1885)
46FORGOTTEN ERE FINISHED
104George Bernard Shaw by G. K. Chesterton
47WHY HE CHANGED HIS MIND
105Introduction to the First Edition
48WAGNER’S OWN EXPLANATION
106The Problem of a Preface
49THE PESSIMIST AS AMORIST
107The Irishman
50THE MUSIC OF THE RING
108The Puritan
51THE CHARACTERIZATION
109The Progressive
52THE OLD AND THE NEW MUSIC
110The Critic
53THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
111The Dramatist
54THE MUSIC OF THE FUTURE
112The Philosopher
55BAYREUTH
113Analysis
56BAYREUTH IN ENGLAND
114Reflection
57WAGNERIAN SINGERS
115Memorable Quotes
58The Revolutionist’s Handbook And Pocket Companion (1903)
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