Overview

Originally published in 1969, in Shaw – “The Chucker Out” Allan Chappelow quotes much entirely new and previously unpublished Shaw material (the fruits of six years’ research at the British Museum and elsewhere) as the basis for his aim of assisting towards a better understanding of Shaw’s controversial character and his paradoxical attitude to life – with reference particularly to certain fallacies and misconceptions voiced by the villagers of Ayot St. Lawrence (during their otherwise favourable memoirs in Shaw the Villager) and shared by the world at large. This book threw a flood of new light on Shaw and the world in which he lived. It included new examples of Shaw’s finest and noblest pronouncements as well as of his more controversial obiter dicta, and a special feature is the way in which the development of Shaw’s ideas is shown during his exceptionally long career occupying three-quarters of a century, from his first published (and unpublished) writings in 1875 till his last in 1950. Here is Shaw at his most stimulating and entertaining (even when deliberately shocking for effect!), and many of his views – on stage censorship for example, or on making strikes illegal – were as topical and relevant in 1969 as when he propounded them. In Shaw – “The Chucker Out” the reader will find (in addition to the opening chapter which presents Shaw’s printed postcards and ‘stock letter’ replies) much new material on Shaw’s attitude to peace and war, on his ‘new alphabet’ and his succession of Wills, rare love letters and other evidence of Shaw’s attitude to sex, unique speeches on the art of the theatre and on the conduct of life, and perhaps most important of all, a most fascinating panorama of Shaw’s views on the full gamut of political themes. The subjects range through Socialism and Capitalism, Christian Economics, Democracy and Dictators, Fascism and Equality of Income, Sedition, Trade Unionism, Women in Politics, and Communism. The book’s appeal is not only to those interested in Shaw and literature, but also as a general sociological and philosophical study of the main political, social, and moral outlooks of the world at the time, in which little-known views of many of Shaw’s contemporaries and critics are given as well as his own. Most people are bewildered by the conflict in life between ideals and illusions, and not a few have been perplexed by the contrast between the unquestionable brilliance of many of Bernard Shaw’s views and the sometimes facetious statements of the clown in him. Allan Chappelow skilfully sifts the wheat from the chaff; as Vera Brittain points out, this book goes a long way towards clarification, and it seemed likely to become a standard work.

Full Product Details

Author:   Allan Chappelow
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
ISBN:  

9781041116677

ISBN 10:   1041116675
Pages:   594
Publication Date:   24 September 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Adult education ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Foreword by Vera Brittain. Introduction by Allan Chappelow. Acknowledgements. Illustrations. Enter “The Chucker Out”! Bernard Shaw Takes the Floor, Replies to His Critics, and Explains Himself. Bernard Shaw’s Printed Postcards and Stock Letter Replies. On How to Become a Model Parent. On Education, Conduct and Life. On the Literature of the Theatre. On His Aims as Playwright. On Stage Morals and Censorship, Religion, Art, and Spiritual and Physical Love. On Love, Marriage, The Nature of Sex, and Sex Ethics. On Sexual Reform. On Socialism. On Christian Economics. On Democracy and Dictators: Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, and Fascism; Revolution, Sedition, Women in Politics; The British Labour Party; Trade Unionism and the Working Class; and the Equalisation of Incomes. On War and Peace. On His Proposed New English Alphabet. G.B.S. and the A.B.C. by Barbara Smoker. Bernard Shaw’s Wills. Mr Justice Harman’s Judgement in 1957, Holding Invalid the Alphabet Trusts in Shaw’s Will. Appendix. Index.

Reviews

From the Foreword Vera Brittain writes: “…It must surely be the most thorough and detailed examination of Shaw’s political, moral, and social views yet made by any biographer … Mr Chappelow has ranged far and wide in what has obviously been most painstaking and conscientious research over a long period, and the fruits of it are extremely well integrated and presented. After spending several weeks on this book my image of Shaw – hitherto always baffling and enigmatical – has become greatly clarified. I feel that Mr Chappelow’s analysis is eminently fair and objective, and of the utmost value as a contribution towards our understanding of this fascinating but also extraordinarily complex man of genius. I am certain that this is a book which no present or future student of Shaw and his time will be able to do without.”

Author Information

Allan Chappelow (1919–2006) was an M.A. and twice a Prizeman of Trinity College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, and a member of the Royal Photographic Society. He had done post-graduate research at the London School of Economics and studied at the Slade School (specialising in sculpture), and was well-known in several countries for his photographic portraits of famous figures (of which those of Shaw were among the first).

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