2023-05-29 02:00:00
These days I was interested in knowing about who it was George Bernard Shaw, who on November 11, 1926 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and in 1938 shared the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for the film version of his book “Pygmalion”. Theater writer, critic and political activist (1856-1950) was the first person to receive a Nobel and an Oscar. He was considered the second most important English-language playwright after William Shakespeare. Of Protestant parents, in 1853 he traveled to London and never returned to live in his native Ireland. Characteristic of him were: his vegetarianism and the use of his particularly long beard to hide the smallpox scar on his face. In 1912 he wrote “Pygmalion” and when it was declared Joan of Arc Saint in 1920, by Pope Benedict XV, this prompted him to write his work “Santa Juana”. Bernard Shaw accepted the Nobel prize in 1925, but rejected the amount since he argued that: “My readers and my public provide me with more than enough money for my needs.” He died at the age of 94 from kidney failure and injuries from falling after pruning a tree. His ashes were scattered around the statue of Saint Joan and on the paths of his country residence at Ayot Saint Lawrence, outside London. Known for his rudeness and black humor, it is said that, on the occasion of the premiere of one of his works, he decided to invite Winston Churchill, whom he hated: “Dear Winston Churchill: I have the honor of inviting you to the premiere of my work Pygmalion. Come bring a friend… if he has one. Signed GBS. and the prime minister’s response was not long in coming, neither slow nor lazy: “I thank the illustrious writer for the honorable invitation. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend the first presentation. I’ll go to the second… if there is one. Signed WCH”. Jorge Luis Borges liked to recount the occurrence that, as a joke, Bernard Shaw used to refer ironically like this: “The English take pride in three important things: tea, which is of Chinese origin, whiskey, which is Scottish, and me. I’m Irish.” Beyond these anecdotes of this great Irish writer, we will say that these days I joyfully celebrated the fact that Tucumán’s Plaza Independencia was turned into an open-air bookstore for the Regional Book Fair. And I also celebrated seeing many young people go through it and take works by regional authors. Someone once said: “There are plenty of books, there is a lack of readers.” So: good for the organizers for promoting the reading of works by authors from the region. Now, the only thing that, personally, I allow myself to disagree is that with the desire for young people to have a greater concern for culture and reading (who already read little or nothing at all) they are encouraged to read authors and that, I repeat, is very good, this is not to the detriment of promoting the reading of classic authors and universal literature such as William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, the same Jorge Luis Borges, George Bernard Shaw and many others.
#universal #literature