| Plays Pleasant Revised Edition Contributor(s): Shaw, George Bernard (Author), Laurence, Dan H. (Editor), McCormack, W. J. (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0140437940 ISBN-13: 9780140437942 Publisher: Penguin Group OUR PRICE: $14.40 Product Type: Paperback Published: August 2003 Annotation: "Plays Pleasant" (1898) comprises four comedies intended to amuse audiences but also to provoke them. "Arms and the Man," set in the Balkan mountains, satirizes the romantic view of war and military heroism. "Candida" presents the complicated relationship between a vicar, his wife, and her young admirer. "You Never Can Tell" is a light, witty look at an aging suffragette and her family. "The Man of Destiny" features Napoleon Bonaparte at odds with English mores. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Monologues & Scenes - Drama | American - General - Drama | European - English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Dewey: 822.912 |
| LCCN: 2003536813 |
| Series: Penguin Classics |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.06" W x 7.8" (0.54 lbs) 336 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Exclusive to Penguin Classics: the definitive text of Shaw's volume of "pleasant" plays, Arms and the Man, Candida, The Man of Destiny, and You Never Can Tell--part of the official Bernard Shaw Library A Penguin Classic One of Bernard Shaw's most glittering comedies, Arms and the Man is a burlesque of Victorian attitudes to heroism, war and empire. In the contrast between Bluntschli, the mercenary soldier, and the brave leader, Sergius, the true nature of valour is revealed. Shaw mocks deluded idealism in Candida, when a young poet becomes infatuated with the wife of a Socialist preacher. The Man of Destiny is a witty war of words between Napoleon and a "strange lady," while in the exuberant farce You Never Can Tell a divided family is reunited by chance. Although Shaw intended Plays Pleasant to be gentler comedies than those in their companion volume, Plays Unpleasant, their prophetic satire is sharp and provocative. This is the definitive text prepared under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence. The volume includes Shaw's Preface of 1898. |