Shaw and Feminisms: On Stage and Off Hardcover - 2013

From the rear cover

"A worthy successor to Fabian Feminist. Shaw's influence on the self-image and public standing of women has been immense, both in his time and in our own, yet Shaw has also been widely and sometimes appallingly misunderstood. This book should help clarify the complexities of the issue and provoke continued reflection and debate."--Julie A. Sparks, San Jose State University "This collection suggests that Shaw's views of women are still relevant and provocative and that the dialogue with Shaw is far from over."--Sally Peters, author of Bernard Shaw: The Ascent of the Superman When offstage actions contradict a playwright's onstage message, literary study gets messy. In his personal life, George Bernard Shaw was often ambivalent toward liberated women--surprisingly so, considering his reputation as one of the first champions of women's rights. His private attitudes sit uncomfortably beside his public philosophies that were so foundational to first-wave feminism.In this volume, Shaw's long-recognized influence on feminism is reexamined through the lens of twenty-first-century feminist thought, providing new links between Shaw's writings and his gendered notions of physicality, pain, performance, nationalism, authorship, and politics. Through the exploration of Shaw's works, a significant amount of previously unpublished Shaw correspondence, and excerpts from the works of his feminist playwright contemporaries, Shaw and Feminisms ultimately compares Shaw's strong female characters with his real-life involvement with women, while investigating his continuing impact on theater and politics. D. A. Hadfield is lecturer in English at the University of Waterloo. She is the author of Re: Producing Women's Dramatic History: The Politics of Playing in Toronto. Jean Reynolds is professor emerita of English at Polk State College. She has written five books, including Pygmalion's Wordplay: The Postmodern Shaw. A volume in the Florida Bernard Shaw Series, edited by R. F. Dietrich