THE REAL SHAW
WE have not yet exhausted the popular fallacies about Bernard Shaw,
but as most of my readers will already be wondering what is left of
the man who has just described Sir Edward Grey as a Junker, I will
turn now from George Bernard Shaw, who is as legendary as the
Flying Dutchman, to the very positive and substantial author
of "Commonsense and the War." I have yet to explain why Bernard
Shaw, stripped of his professional masks, and rescued from the
misconceptions of his admirers, remains one of the most striking
public figures of our day, and must fairly be regarded as the most
important apparition in the British theater since Goldsmith and
Sheridan. We have seen that Bernard Shaw is not original in what
he preaches, is erudite rather than adventurous, is in no sense
revolutionary or anarchical, is extremely serious, and is far from
being an orgiastic and impudent rationalist for whom drifting
humanity is stuff for a paradox. Bernard Shaw has not won the
notice of mankind because he has thought of things which have
hitherto occurred to no one else; nor
has he won the notice
of mankind because he has a native gift of buffoonery and a talent
for the stage. The merit of Bernard Shaw has to be sought outside
his doctrine. The secret of his genius lies deeper than his fun,
and has scarcely anything to do with his craft.
