Captain Brassbound‘s Conversion

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 163K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Captain Brassbound's Conversion by Bernard ShawAuthor: Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 1, 2002

Editor's review

Captain Brassbound's Conversion is a play by Bernard Shaw, one of the works in his sequence of plays on social problems. The word "Conversion" in the title suggests a change in a character's beliefs or stance, and Shaw habitually uses witty dialogue and ironic structure to discuss issues such as morality, power, and identity. This book is an English public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with a complete text that is easy to obtain, making it one of the introductory texts for understanding Shaw's dramatic style. In reading it, one can appreciate both the tension of its stage-oriented dialogue and the author's examination of the social ideas of his time. Because it is in script form, readers need to adapt to the format in which stage directions alternate with character dialogue. Overall, this work is suitable for readers interested in British drama, Shaw's thought, or public-domain English literature, and proceeding act by act is more suitable for reading during commutes or short sessions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Shaw's drama and modern British theater
Enthusiasts who need a public-domain English play script for reading or acting practice
Students taking English literature courses who wish to encounter the play form

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer continuous novelistic narrative and are unaccustomed to script format
Readers who want a Chinese translation and are unwilling to consult the English original
Researchers expecting detailed scholarly annotations and historical background study

Reading tips

First read through the list of characters and stage directions, then read act by act to grasp the dramatic structure
Try reading the dialogue aloud to appreciate the wit and rhythm of Shaw's language
After finishing, revisit the "Conversion" in the title and trace the changes in the characters' stances

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a novel or a play?

This is a play script, including a list of characters, stage directions, and character dialogue; it is read differently from a novel. It is advisable to proceed act by act and to pay attention to how stage directions help in understanding the characters' actions and situations.

Can I read it without experience in reading drama?

Yes. The key to reading a play is to follow the dialogue to understand the characters' relationships and conflicts; you do not need to master all dramatic terminology from the start. You can begin with the list of characters and the first act, and continue once you are familiar with the format.

Does this edition have annotations?

The Project Gutenberg edition mainly provides a public-domain text and usually does not include modern scholarly annotations or an introduction. If you need a deeper understanding of Shaw's historical background and intellectual context, it is recommended to read it alongside relevant literary histories or drama studies.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950 Author

Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish playwright and critic. Public information about the details of his life is limited, yet his works have had a profound influence. The collection here contains 53 of his works, covering drama, criticism, and discursive essays. His representative works include Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Man and Superman, Candida, Caesar and Cleopatra, Major Barbara, and Arms and the Man. His plays often use witty, sharp dialogue to explore such issues as social class, gender relations, moral hypocrisy, and idealism, combining comic tension with argumentative force to form a distinctive style of drama of ideas. Shaw was skilled at presenting conflicts of ideas through exchanges between characters, turning the stage into a place of public discussion and exerting an important influence on the development of modern English-language drama.