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Book Description
In this caustic satire of romantic conventions, Shaw provides a wonderfully original twist on the Don Juan myth. A finely tuned combination of intellectual seriousness and popular comedy, Man and Superman (1905) articulates a recurrent theme in Shaw's writing: the notion that man is the spiriContinue
4 Reviews
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Ben Daubney said on Oct 11, 2008 | Add your feedback
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Love the Tanner character. I used to identify with him alot, but now not so much anymore, only certain aspects. He's actually quite over the top.
Some of this book was over my head, it was only the second play I've ever read and the first I've read by Bernard Shaw. He has a pretty cool style, quite ... (continue)
audioreader said on Sep 1, 2011 | Add your feedback
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Flavia2112 said on Jun 20, 2011 | Add your feedback
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Paradossale, sarcastico, ampolloso: queste caratteristiche ne rendono difficole la lettura. Ho capito il titolo solo nelle ultime pagine: Compare our conduct and our codes with those mentioned contemporarily in such ancient scriptures and classics as have come down to us, and you wil find no jot ... (continue)
Tatiana Tartuferi said on Feb 19, 2011 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback
Book Details
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- English Books
- Paperback 272 Pages
- ISBN-10: 014045019X
- ISBN-13: 9780140450194
- Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
- Pub date: Jan 18, 1989
- Dimensions: 1290 mm x 839 mm x 129 mm Just how big is that?
- Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Library Binding, Others and eBook
Prices Change currency & sellers
| ISBN | Edition | List | Sale | Seller |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9780140450194 | Paperback | $9.95 | -- | The Book Depository |
| Other editions → | ||||
| + 2 copies tradable: → | ||||
Jardspen 
1 person find this helpful
Why I hate Victorian society comedies
Pedants: yes, I know that this was first published in 1903, two years after Victoria died, but the sentiment remains the same.
This, spouts Shaw in his endless introduction, is a play of ideas. It ends with a marriage or two and the entire cast laughing. It features a dreamt discussion between ... (continue)
Pedants: yes, I know that this was first published in 1903, two years after Victoria died, but the sentiment remains the same.
This, spouts Shaw in his endless introduction, is a play of ideas. It ends with a marriage or two and the entire cast laughing. It features a dreamt discussion between Don Juan and the Devil, amongst others, in Hell.
It is excruciating.
This is a combination of everything fashionable during the late Victorian era. It's a genteel play, it is comedic, it continually alludes to the classics and it has a Big Moral Message. And it goes on. And on. And on and on. At times, it feels as if it's not Don Juan in Hell but the audience, whom are forced to endure hour after hour of twenty-minute long answers to twenty-minute long questions. It has that irritating Wildean element of everything meaning the exact opposite, with the equally infuriating quality of trying to refute that illogic.
There is a nice morality at the heart of the play but it's completely lost in the ridiculous verbiosity. Truth be told, the moment when the scandalous girl meets her illicit husband's father for the first time encapsulates the play's whole argument brilliantly. But that's not enough for Shaw! Instead, he has to analyse and analyse and argue and repeat over and over again the same arguments, the same rebellions, the same conformities.
How I want to pretend that Shaw acted as a prelude to Waugh. How disappointed I am that he is not. Gentle reader, do not be fooled. Read in abbreviation, if at all.
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