Shaw, Plato, and Euripides

Ever since its 1905 premiere on the London stage, Bernard Shaw's controversial drama Major Barbara has proved puzzling to audiences and critics alike. More than a century later there is still wide critical disagreement about the play's meaning and the ideas embodied within it. Sidney Albert's groundbreaking new b o ok provides a daring and novel reading of this work. By tracing the extensive connections between Shaw's play and two canonical ancient Greek texts-Plato's Republic and EuripidesÆs Bacchae-Albert reveals deeper dimensions of the drama.

Sidney P. Albert is professor emeritus of philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles. A founding member of the International Shaw Society, a former member of the Shaw Review editorial board, and a frequent contributor to Shaw: The Annual of Bernard Shaw Studies, he is widely recognized as a leading authority on the dramas of Bernard Shaw.

Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction: The Way from Athens	p. 1
Intricacies of the Drama	p. 2
Major Barbara and Plato's Republic	p. 3
Major Barbara and Euripides's Bacchae	p. 5
On Translations from the Greek	p. 7
The Way from Athens	p. 9
Shaw's Republic	p. 11
Platonic Parallels	p. 11
Prideful Aristocracy	p. 15
Moral Economics	p. 20
Will, Reason, Moral Passion	p. 23
Irony and Sophistry	p. 27
The Way to Power	p. 35
Triunity	p. 39
Power of Life and Death	p. 41
Raising Hell to Heaven	p. 47
Return to the Cave	p. 50
Shaw's Bacchae	p. 53
The Drama of Nutrition	p. 53
Bacchic Parallels	p. 54
Humanity and Divinity	p. 56
The Life Force and Nutrition	p. 59
Myth and Identity	p. 63
Blood and Fire	p. 69
Maenads and Music	p. 74
The Drama of Resistance	p. 82
Hybris, Aidos, and Nemesis in West Ham	p. 84
Drumming Dithyrambs	p. 93
Eudaimonia, Sophia, and Indeterminate Divinity	p. 97
Divine Mania	p. 108
Power of the People	p. 116
Epiphany: Ecstasy and Resistance	p. 126
The Drama of Heaven and Hell	p. 135
Aftermath, Amathia, and Awakening	p. 137
Dionysos or Another	p. 147
The ArmorerÆs Creed	p. 157
Power Struggle	p. 165
Salvation through Physis	p. 171
The Drama of Transfiguration	p. 182
Traversing the Abyss	p. 184
Power and Wisdom	p. 191
Torch in Hand	p. 197
Resurrection: Life through Death	p. 206
Raising Man to God	p. 209
Descent from the Heights	p. 214
The Bacchae and Major Barbara	p. 219
Appendix. Bernard Shaw: The Artist as Philosopher	p. 221
Notes	p. 245
Selected Bibliography	p. 283
Index	p. 297
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Shaw, Plato, and Euripides

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