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Broken hearts, broken heads: The critical response to Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House", 1919-1921
Abstract
Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House, on its first appearance, troubled critics in both England and the United States. My study describes the critical response to that first publication, and then to the stage productions that followed in New York in 1920 and London in 1921, in an attempt to discover why the play had this mixed reception. I have included literary and dramatic reviews from a wide variety of newspapers and magazines. Because of the number of reviews, I chose those with the most substantive comments on the play and/or preface. For each of the reviews I have tried to provide as much background as I found relevant to Shaw's work: matters of personal literary and dramatic taste, political beliefs, relationships with editors, critical philosophies. In some cases, when I have been unable to determine the identity of a reviewer, I have discussed the paper and its (or the editor's) controlling political and aesthetic policy. In Chapter One I provide "The Historical View," by describing Shaw's pre-war popularity, the outrage engendered by Common Sense About the War, and the relevance of the periodical press in historical and literary studies. Chapter Two analyzes reviews by such critics as A. B. Walkley in the Times Literary Supplement, John Middleton Murry in the Athenaeum, William Archer in the Nation, and anonymous reviews in the Times, the Spectator, and the Saturday Review. Chapter Three discusses differences between the British and American reception of the play, and analyzes reviews by Francis Hackett in the New Republic, Ludwig Lewisohn in the Nation, John Corbin in the New York Times, and anonymous reviews in Current Opinion and the Dial. Chapter Four provides brief histories of Shaw's reputation in America and of the New York Theatre Guild, which produced the premiere performance. I discuss, among others, reviews by Alexander Woollcott in the New York Times, Louis Reid in the Dramatic Mirror, Robert Benchley in Life, and anonymous reviews in the Clipper and Outlook. Chapter Five places Heartbreak House against the background of Shaw's spectacularly successful seasons at the Royal Court Theatre from 1904 to 1907. The principal reviews discussed are by Naomi Royde-Smith in the Westminster Gazette, St. John Ervine in the Observer, John Francis Hope in the New Age, Desmond MacCarthy in the New Statesman, and James Agate in the Saturday Review. Chapter Six follows the reception of the play to the end of the 1920s, and discusses changes in the response of critics and audiences. The chapter concludes with a brief look at the first Malvern Festival in 1929, at which Heartbreak House was produced.
Subject Area
Literature|Theater|British and Irish literature
Recommended Citation
Miller, Janice Catherine, "Broken hearts, broken heads: The critical response to Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House", 1919-1921" (1990). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9121927.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9121927