ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). 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.

Detailed explanation-2: -Shaw’s most financially successful work, Pygmalion, was adapted into the popular Broadway musical My Fair Lady. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

Detailed explanation-3: -“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” “I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”

Detailed explanation-4: -The special features of Shaw’s dramatic technique are: (i) his prefaces, (ii) his elaborate stage-directions, (iii) his rejection of the artificial limitations of the classical unities, and (iv) lack of action and conflict in his plays. Shaw was hardly dependent on the stage for the publicity of his plays.

Detailed explanation-5: -Pygmalion, romance in five acts by George Bernard Shaw, produced in German in 1913 in Vienna.