Pygmalion

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

4.6

Word count: 189K words
Chapters: 19

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. Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw. Author: Shaw, Bernard, 1856–1950. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: March 1, 2003.

Editor's review

Pygmalion is one of Shaw's most stage-worthy comedies. Through the phonetician Higgins's experiment of remaking the flower girl Eliza, it twists class, language, and identity into a witty verbal duel. Shaw's dialogue is sharp and musical, and his preface and appendix candidly set out his intentions, so readers can enjoy the comic rhythm while seeing his cool dissection of British social hierarchy. This Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English ebook with a clear source text, free to obtain, and well suited as an entry point to reading drama in the original English. As you read, note the different characters' accent markings and the power relations in their dialogue—this is the dramatic engine of the play. Readers interested in playwriting, sociolinguistics, or English literature will find passages worth returning to.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Self-learners who want to improve their English reading through drama
Readers interested in British social class and language issues
Drama and literature students using it as a primary text
General readers who enjoy witty dialogue and satirical comedy

Not a good fit for

Beginners who cannot read English at all
Readers expecting a novel with a complex plot and many scenes
Those who want only a light romance and do not care about social issues

Reading tips

Read the whole play first for the plot, then reread key scenes against the characters' accent markings
After the main text, read Shaw's preface and appendix to understand his stance
Mark the shifts in power in the dialogue between Higgins and Eliza as you read
Pair it with an audiobook or stage recording to feel the rhythm and tone of the lines

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 the original English text or a Chinese translation?

This is a public-domain English ebook released by Project Gutenberg. The main text is Shaw's original English play and contains no Chinese translation. It is suitable for readers with some English reading ability to read the original directly.

Can I understand it without experience reading drama?

Yes. The play moves the plot through dialogue, and the relationships between characters are clear. It helps to look over the list of characters first and then read the scenes in order. Do not puzzle over every accented spelling; grasp the intent of the dialogue.

Does this edition include the preface and appendix?

Shaw's preface and afterword for Pygmalion are part of the play and are usually included with the main text. The exact contents depend on what this ebook actually contains; watch for explanatory material before and after the main text.

Comments

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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.