Background
George Bernard Shaw is one of the true rarities in this project. A long and fruitful career writing, primarily, comedies! Despite his strength in the genre, his childhood was not a laugh riot. Shaw and his family dealt with numbing poverty and deep loss, but Shaw found a way to educate himself by lurking in museums and reading rooms in Dublin and then London before becoming a writer.
While his novels never gained a footing, his time as an art and drama critic gave him great insight into the revolution on the stage started by Henrik Ibsen in Norway. Soon, he was writing his own dramas and filling theaters in London. From there he began a long and storied career as a critic, wit, essayist, and thinker, capturing much of the old world and its conflict with the modern replacement
Works
Soldiering, my dear madam, is the coward’s art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm’s way when you are weak.
–Arms and the ManThe worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.
—The Devil’s DiscipleMessage
As someone who often felt a bit out of step with the educated and wealthy elites he joined, Shaw certainly had a pattern. In the works I read (slash listened to thanks to great series of plays from LA Theater works), and those I know from years of being a nerd, Shaw loves a story where a privileged few see their world and sense of self upended by an outsider: the enemy soldier in Arms and the Man; the prodigal son in The Devil’s Disciple; the cockney flower girl who rises in society in Pygmalion (or its more famous adaptation: My Fair Lady); or, my favorite example, the Polish daredevil who literally crash lands in an English greenhouse (Misalliance). In all these, his overarching theme seems to be outsiders often understand our communities better than we do.
How exactly he could write so many texts with the same theme and yet be a supporter of genocide and antisemitic, I don’t know.
Position: #10 Attacking Midfield
Like his fellow playwright, big thinker, and questionable human, Jean-Paul Sartre, I would slot Shaw as a #10 creative attacking midfielder. Naturally, dramatists have a tendency to control all the action and make suggestions for everything that happens in the story (even if living people bring it to life). Shaw also checks boxes as a creative and crowd pleasing talent, even if he does have some pretty clear tendancies and habits. Clearly, Shaw gets aggressive in how he skewers the rich and powerful, a style born out in his preferred sport (not soccer but boxing).
To be frank, I rated Shaw’s strength in midfield before I found out about his political…uh…jackassery. But I think the ranking holds as his work as a writer undercuts his own views (rather than amplifying his worst opinions…looking at you Wladyslaw Reymont).
If you’d like to dispute this, my standing offer to join the conversation stands. Comment below if Shaw should step up to the top of the midfielder rankings or slide more than I considered.
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