1910: Edwardian Shaw

Abstract

Halley’s Comet reappeared in 1910, portentously and spectacularly. Shaw had been anticipating that celestial body in himself for some time by then. The author of over twenty plays, most of which had been successfully produced internationally, the author as well of several critical, exegetical, polemical non-dramatic works, a leader among the Fabians whose reputation stood higher at this time than at any time before, a public speaker and debater of consummate skill, many said the finest public speaker in the country, a controversialist, a wit, a polemicist, a man of notable parts, he could know that the challenge of January 1901 had been met and that he had fulfilled his destiny, at least to the extent that his significant presence on earth could not be denied any longer. The world’s press was not backward in conceding this. A selfpublicist of supreme skill, Shaw had advanced to the stage where his every word, and there were many, made headlines, not only in London but in other capitals of the Western world. He was famous, he was notorious. He had a reputation.