In the future, people in England age slowly and live long lives, but only foreigners are capable of holding political positions due to their early maturity. The story follows the President of England and a Barnabas descendant as they deal with an American inventor who has created a method for breathing underwater, and later discover that a...More
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays. With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political...More
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays. With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years before his first public success, Arms and the Man in 1894. Influenced by Henrik Ibsen, he sought to introduce a new realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political, social and religious ideas.
Book Summary
In the future, people in England age slowly and live long lives, but only foreigners are capable of holding political positions due to their early maturity. The story follows the President of England and a Barnabas descendant as they deal with an American inventor who has created a method for breathing underwater, and later discover that a prominent Archbishop has been faking his own death to avoid mandatory retirement. They debate the legality of his actions, but are interrupted by the arrival of a long-lived Domestic Minister who remembers the Archbishop from her past. They leave together, causing concern among the others that more long-lifers will emerge and form a colony that threatens short-lived people. The President declines an invitation for an amorous adventure due to fear of rheumatism in his old age, which is seen as a sign of maturity.
George Bernard shaw
