Rosalie Rahal Haddad Reihenfolge der Bücher

In 1927, the first production of Pygmalion was staged in Brazil. At the time, over 65 per cent of the adult Brazilian population was illiterate, which makes it all the more surprising that directors and producers dared to stage such a controversial playwright – a writer who had often been rejected by the more sophisticated theatregoer in England. This book analyses the reception of almost a century of Brazilian productions of Pygmalion, My Fair Lady, Arms and the Man, Candida and Mrs Warren’s Profession, setting that analysis in the context of the political, economic and cultural climate at the time of each production. What emerges is a faithful portrait of a country where theatre and theatre criticism are precariously established, and the theatregoer with no knowledge of English cannot be certain that the translation or adaptation they are watching bears anything more than a passing resemblance to the original. Nonetheless, Brazil has also witnessed a number of fine productions, presented by highly skilled actors and directors and reviewed by well-informed and articulate critics. As well as supplying fascinating detail on the wide range of Shaw productions staged in Brazil over the last ninety years, this volume also generates valuable insights into the complexities of twentieth-century Brazilian society.

Bernard Shaw has always swum against the stream. His viewpoint as an Anglo-Irish writer enabled him to observe and evaluate British culture from a position of independence. His main accomplishment was the unprecedented criticism, filled with humor and optimism, of the established morality of the day. From his early days as a novelist he contested the Victorian status quo. The novels though rejected by critics and publishers are important not only because they give us glimpses of Shaw the dramatist but also because they offer a fascinating portrait of a young artist with an open mind. Bound to no particular convention in art or science, unlike most other English authors of his time, Shaw welcomed every new revolutionary point of view or idea he came across. In the young Shaw one can see a rebel against the accepted traditions and mores of his time, an individualist determined to think for himself, who has yet to find his philosophy. His novels provided training, discipline and a social, political and cultural background for his future drama. The purpose of this study is to contribute to a re-evaluation of these important early works in the career of one of the twentieth century’s most significant playwrights and to show that the novels can be considered his later drama of ideas in embryo.