{"product_id":"plays-pleasant-isbn-9780140437942","title":"Plays Pleasant","description":"\u003cb\u003eExclusive to Penguin Classics: the definitive text of Shaw’s volume of “pleasant” plays, \u003ci\u003eArms and the Man\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCandida\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Man of Destiny\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eYou Never Can Tell\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e—part of the official Bernard Shaw Library\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Penguin Classic\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of Bernard Shaw’s most glittering comedies, \u003ci\u003eArms and the Man\u003c\/i\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eCandida\u003c\/i\u003e, when a young poet becomes infatuated with the wife of a Socialist preacher. \u003ci\u003eThe Man of Destiny\u003c\/i\u003e is a witty war of words between Napoleon and a “strange lady,” while in the exuberant farce \u003ci\u003eYou Never Can Tell\u003c\/i\u003e a divided family is reunited by chance. Although Shaw intended \u003ci\u003ePlays Pleasant\u003c\/i\u003e to be gentler comedies than those in their companion volume, \u003ci\u003ePlays Unpleasant\u003c\/i\u003e, their prophetic satire is sharp and provocative.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the definitive text prepared under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence. The volume includes Shaw’s Preface of 1898.Plays PleasantIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e  Chronology\u003cbr\u003e  Preface\u003cbr\u003eArms and the Man: An Anti-romantic Comedy\u003cbr\u003eCandida: A Mystery\u003cbr\u003eThe Man of Destiny: A Fictitious Paragraph of History\u003cbr\u003eYou Never Can Tell: A Comedy\u003cbr\u003eComposition and Cast Lists\u003cbr\u003ePrincipal Works of Bernard Shaw\u003cb\u003eBy the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“[Shaw] did his best in redressing the fateful unbalance between truth and reality, in lifting mankind to a higher rung of social maturity. He often pointed a scornful finger at human frailty, but his jests were never at the expense of humanity.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Thomas Mann\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Shaw will not allow complacency; he hates second-hand opinions; he attacks fashion; he continually challenges and unsettles, questioning and provoking us even when he is making us laugh. And he is still at it. No cliché or truism of contemporary life is safe from him.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Michael Holroyd\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“In his works Shaw left us his mind. . . . Today we have no Shavian wizard to awaken us with clarity and paradox, and the loss to our national intelligence is immense.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“He was a Tolstoy with jokes, a modern Dr. Johnson, a universal genius who on his own modest reckoning put even Shakespeare in the shade.” \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“His plays were superb exercises in high-level argument on every issue under the sun, from feminism and God, to war and eternity, but they were also hits—and still are.”\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Daily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge Bernard Shaw\u003c\/b\u003e (1856–1950) is one of the world’s greatest literary figures. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he left school at fourteen and in 1876 went to London, where he began his literary career with a series of unsuccessful novels. In 1884 he became a founder of the Fabian Society, the famous British socialist organization. After becoming a reviewer and drama critic, he published a study of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen in 1891 and became determined to create plays as he felt Ibsen did: to shake audiences out of their moral complacency and to attack social problems. However, Shaw was an irrepressible wit, and his plays are as entertaining as they are socially provocative. Basically shy, Shaw created a public persona for himself: G.B.S., a bearded eccentric, crusading social critic, antivivisectionist, language reformer, strict vegetarian, and renowned public speaker. The author of fifty-three plays, hundreds of essays, reviews, and letters, and several books, Shaw is best known for \u003ci\u003eWidowers’ Houses, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Arms and the Man, Caesar and Cleopatra, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, Pygmalion, Heartbreak House,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSaint Joan\u003c\/i\u003e. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDan H. Laurence\u003c\/b\u003e (series editor; 1920–2008) was series editor for the works of George Bernard Shaw in Penguin. Formerly a New York University faculty member, Mr. Laurence left his tenured position in 1970 to dedicated his life to the collection and curation of Shaw's life, work, and letters. He served as the official literary advisor to Shaw's estate and published four volumes of his correspondence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eW. J. McCormack\u003c\/b\u003e (introducer) is a professor of literary history at Goldsmith’s College, London.","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302191616229,"sku":"NP9780140437942","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780140437942.jpg?v=1767734874","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/plays-pleasant-isbn-9780140437942","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}