{"product_id":"saint-joan-a-chronicle-play-in-six-scenes-9780140437911","title":"Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes","description":"\u003cb\u003eExclusive to Penguin Classics: the definitive text of Shaw's powerful historical drama about Joan of Arc, which led him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature--part of the official Bernard Shaw Library\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003cbr\u003eA Penguin Classic\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With \u003ci\u003eSaint Joan\u003c\/i\u003e, which distills many of the ideas Shaw had been exploring in earlier works on politics, religion, feminism, and creative evolution, he reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc, but unhappy with the way she had traditionally been depicted, Shaw wanted to remove \"the whitewash which disfigures her beyond recognition.\" He presents a realistic Joan: proud, intolerant, na?ve, foolhardy, and brave--a rebel and a woman for Shaw's time and our own. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This is the definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence. The volume includes Shaw's Preface of 1924; the cast list of the first production of \u003ci\u003eSaint Joan\u003c\/i\u003e; a chronology; and the essay \"On Playing Joan\" by Imogen Stubbs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoley Wood \u003c\/b\u003e(introducer) has written about many twentieth-century Irish writers, particularly James Joyce and \u003ci\u003eUlysses\u003c\/i\u003e, and has edited a number of other works. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eImogen Stubbs\u003c\/b\u003e (introducer) is an English actress and writer. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50844046819602,"sku":"9780140437911","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_de3179da-f5f2-40db-ab42-92529eabfb0c.jpg?v=1737308530","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/saint-joan-a-chronicle-play-in-six-scenes-9780140437911","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}