Brief biography of bernard shaw

George Bernard Shaw: a Brief Biography

By Cary M. Mazer, University of Pennsylvania

Guest Dramaturg

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Brief biography of bernard shaw

Bernard Shaw (he hated the “George” and never used it, either personally or professionally) was born in 1856 in Dublin, in a lower-middle class family of Scottish-Protestant ancestry. His father was a failed corn-merchant, with a drinking problem and a squint (which Oscar Wilde’s father, a leading Dublin surgeon, tried unsuccessfully to correct); his mother was a professional singer, the sole disciple of Vandeleur Lee, a voice teacher claiming to have a unique and original approach to singing.

When Shaw was just short of his sixteenth birthday, his mother left her husband and son and moved with Vandeleur Lee to London, where the two set up a household, along with Shaw’s older sister Lucy (who later became a successful music hall singer).

Shaw remained in Dublin with his fathe