The Irish Writers: W.B. Yeats Boyle, Ken

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was a prolific dramatist, critic, essayist, pamphleteer and social reformer. The shy, idealistic Irishman separated himself from his opinionated public persona, ‘G. B. S.’, and his eccentric alter ego and his work were the vehicles for his social and political ideals. He was a member of the socialist Fabian Society from its founding and edited Fabian Essays. Most of his early plays were banned because of their political content. His outspokenness made him unpopular in England for a time but his spreading worldwide fame made it easier for him to voice his views.

Plays, such as Mrs Warren’s Profession, Arms and the Man, Man and Superman, Major Barbara, Pygmalion and St Joan, his essays and letters, his outspoken opinions, great wit and charisma made him a celebrity and his name has even passed into the English language in the word ‘Shavian’. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.

Author David Ross has written a biography of Shaw that is exceptionally readable and entertaining. The life, wit and prolific achievements of this Irish icon are conveyed with insight and understanding.

The Dublin-born dramatist, essayist, poet and novelist, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854–1900), was as unconventional as he was brilliant. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and at Magdalen College, Oxford, displaying an outstanding mind, a sharp wit and a contempt for conformity. He became an advocate of the doctrine of art for art’s sake and courted controversy with his flamboyant and decadent public image. Celebrated for his wit and pathos, Wilde today is perhaps best known for his play The Importance of Being Earnest.

His conviction and imprisonment for homosexuality was the beginning of a slow physical decline that eventually brought about his death in 1900. Wilde left behind him a remarkable body of work. This exceptionally charismatic and talented man left an influence on our culture that has been immense.

Author David Pritchard has written a highly readable, frank and sympathetic biography of the cultural and literary legacy of one of the most paradoxical characters, and one of the most brilliant intellects, of the nineteenth century.