Archibald Henderson’s George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, near the time of Pymalion's publicationGeorge Bernard Shaw: His Life and Works, a Critical Biography by Archibald Henderson is an interesting biography which, while somewhat dated, includes a number of good photographs and a genealogical chart.

You may find this in your local library, read an online digitized copy at Google Books, or download it as a PDF or e-Pub. Because this book has been scanned, you’ll see imperfections, but it is perfectly readable.

Download the PDF

You’ll find the ePub link in the upper right corner of the Google Books site.

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Archibald Henderson was an enthusiastic admirer of Shaw’s, with whom he eventually became a correspondent. In 1907 he traveled to London to meet with Shaw, coincidentally arriving on the same train with Mark Twain (who he would also go on to write about). Despite the fact that Shaw’s work fell outside the confines of Henderson’s professional discipline as a professor of pure mathematics at the University of North Carolina, he would eventually write many works on Shaw, including several biographical editions such as George Bernard Shaw: Playboy and Prophet (1932), George Bernard Shaw: Man of the Century (1956), George Bernard Shaw: Table Talk of G.B.S. (1926), George Bernard Shaw: Is Bernard Shaw a Dramatist? (1929) as well as the work which is provided above.

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Of course, there are always multiple viewpoints to be considered when examining the life of someone as complex as George Bernard Shaw; you can enjoy a different take on his life by reading EIL’s brief G. Bernard Shaw biography. You can check out our other George Bernard Shaw resources as well, which include essays by Shaw himself.

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When will you read George Bernard Shaw’s writing in Excellence in Literature?

E1.5 Focus text: Pygmalion