Shilli & the Spirit

the family to living in genteel poverty. His mother-the daughter of a well-to-do family-found escape from the family difficulties in music. A professional singer and student of the conductor George Vandeleur Lee, she eventually followed him to London to pursue her own

prose-a string of five novels-were rejected by publishers. However, he did land a job as a freelance critic for an influential daily paper, the Pall Mall Gazette. The liberal political leanings of the paper were in line with Shaw's growing interest in soci

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d on socialist topics. Often he focused on themes of marriage, education, politics, class struggle, and religion. As a self-professed socialist, Shaw was a vigorous proponent of gender equality. He believed that all people have a purpose in life and that women were being denied chances to play their critical roles in society. He actively supported efforts to alter the marriage laws, eliminate patriarchy, establish f

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ed to read Shaw's play Widowers' Houses. He accepted it almost immediately, and it was first publicly performed in 1892. Over the next six years, Shaw completed a collection of dramas called Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. Each attacked with varied ferocity the social evils

s and pamphlets created uproar. He was shunned by friends and ostracized by the public. Nevertheless, he continued writing plays, and by 1923, with the production of Saint Joan, he succeeded in reviving his career. I

on November 2, 1950, at age 94. At the

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