George Bernard Shaw I, Arms and the Man
“Shaw may one day write a serious and even an artistic play, if he will only repress his irreverent whimsicality, try to clothe his character conceptions in flesh and blood, and realize the difference between knowingness and knowledge.”
William Archer, World
George Bernard Shaw II, Major Barbara
“There are no human beings in Major Barbara: only animated points of view.
William Archer, World
George Bernard Shaw III, Man and Superman
“I think Shaw, on the whole, is more bounder than genius…I couldn’t get on with Man and Superman: it disgusted me.”
Bertrand Russell, letter to G.L. Dickinson
Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998.
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