The Philanderer

by Bernard Shaw

Overview

The Philanderer is a play by George Bernard Shaw. It was written in 1893 but the strict British censorship laws at the time meant that it was not produced on stage until 1902. Shaw wrote two endings for this play; the first ending, with divorce as its main theme, was discarded on the advice of a friend, the second ending resulting in a more conventional marriage. It is the latter that is usually performed or published, though the former is the more in keeping with Shaw's tendencies to criticize contemporary society. George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 - 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789355462992
Publisher:	Pharos Books Private Limited
Publication date:	12/13/2022
Pages:	102
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.24(d)

About the Author

L.W. Conolly is Emeritus Professor of English at Trent University; an Honorary Fellow, Robinson College, Cambridge University; a Senior Fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto; and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the editor of the Broadview Edition of Bernard Shaw’s Mrs Warren’s Profession (2005) and the author of many other books on Shaw.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Bernard Shaw: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

The Philanderer

Appendix A: Shaw’s Original Final Act to The Philanderer (1893)

Appendix B: Shaw’s Prefaces to Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant and The Philanderer

1. From the Preface to Plays: Pleasant and Unpleasant (1898)
2. Prefatory Note to The Philanderer (1931)

Appendix C: Shaw and Ibsen

1. From Clement Scott’s Review of Ghosts, Daily Telegraph (14 March 1891)
2. From the Daily Telegraph Editorial on Ghosts (14 March 1891)
3. From Bernard Shaw, The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1928)

Appendix D: Marriage and Divorce

1. From the “Solemnization of Matrimony,” Book of Common Prayer (1901)
2. From An Act to Amend the Law Relating to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in England (1857)
3. From “Indissolubility of Marriage,” Lipincott’s (July 1890)
4. From Shaw’s Preface to Getting Married (1911)

Appendix E: Medicine and Vivisection

1. From Shaw’s Preface to The Doctor’s Dilemma (1911)
2. From Shaw’s Speech on Vivisection, Queen’s Hall, London (22 May 1900)

Appendix F: Contemporary Reviews

1. From The Illustrated London News (9 February 1907)
2. The Athenaeum (9 February 1907)
3. From Max Beerbohm, “The Philanderer,” The Saturday Review (9 February 1907)
4. From The Era (9 February 1907)
5. The Sketch (13 February 1907)
6. From the New York Herald (29 December 1913)
7. From the New York Tribune (29 December 1913)
8. From The Theatre, New York (February 1914)
9. From St John Ervine, “The Philanderer,” The Observer (4 February 1923)

Select Bibliography and Works Cited

Editorial Reviews

This is the indispensable version of one of Shaw’s most misunderstood plays. L.W. Conolly’s edition of The Philanderer finally makes Shaw’s original final act widely available for scholars and performers. Conolly provides the perfect biographical, historical, and philosophical source documents to decide whether or not Shaw was right to suppress his first ending—an important dramatic treatise on divorce laws and gender equality that is the foundation of later plays. Conolly is a sure-footed, amiable guide, illuminating the play’s production and reception history while providing the reader with all the tools she needs to understand why this ‘restored’ text is not simply a neglected curiosity, but instead a major event in the history of modern drama.” — Lawrence Switzky, University of Toronto

“L.W. Conolly’s excellent scholarship expertly guides both students and scholars through the tangled and fascinating history of Shaw’s controversial first draft of The Philanderer. Expressly prohibited by Shaw’s own will, the original third act was supposed to have been burned on the advice of a friend. Thankfully Shaw didn’t follow that advice, and Conolly offers a richly detailed, terrifically readable, and insightfully persuasive justification for going against Shaw’s will.” — Michael M. O’Hara, Ball State University

From the Publisher

This is the indispensable version of one of Shaw’s most misunderstood plays. L.W. Conolly’s edition of The Philanderer finally makes Shaw’s original final act widely available for scholars and performers. Conolly provides the perfect biographical, historical, and philosophical source documents to decide whether or not Shaw was right to suppress his first ending—an important dramatic treatise on divorce laws and gender equality that is the foundation of later plays. Conolly is a sure-footed, amiable guide, illuminating the play’s production and reception history while providing the reader with all the tools she needs to understand why this ‘restored’ text is not simply a neglected curiosity, but instead a major event in the history of modern drama.

Lawrence Switzky University of Toronto