Bibliograph

Pygmalion, a romance in five acts, Bernard Shaw ; definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence ; introduction by Nicholas Grene

Type

Label

Pygmalion, a romance in five acts, Bernard Shaw ; definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence ; introduction by Nicholas Grene

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

dramas

Main title

Pygmalion

Oclc number

51934991

Responsibility statement

Bernard Shaw ; definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence ; introduction by Nicholas Grene

Series statement

Penguin classics

Sub title

a romance in five acts

Summary

Pygmalion both delighted and scandalized its first audiences in 1914. A brilliantly witty reworking of the classical tale of the sculptor who falls in love with his perfect female statue, it is also a barbed attack on the British class system and a statement of Shaw's feminist views. In Shaw's hands, the phoneticist Henry Higgins is the Pygmalion figure who believes he can transform Eliza Doolittle, a cockney flower girl, into a duchess at ease in polite society. The one thing he overlooks is that his 'creation' has a mind of her own. This is the definitive text produced under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence, with an illuminating introduction by Nicholas Grene, discussing the language and politics of the play. Also included in this volume is Shaw's preface, as well as his 'sequel' written for the first publication in 1916, to rebut public demand for a more conventionally romantic ending

Table Of Contents

Chronology of the life and times of Bernard Shaw -- Introduction -- Principal works of Bernard Shaw -- Preface -- Pygmalion

Classification