THE BIOGRAPHICAL JOURNEY 

In August, 1914, Bernard Shaw was 58 years old. He was at the heightof his career as a playwright and Fabian activist. In the 38 years since hearrived in London from Dublin, Shaw had transformed himself from animpoverished, shy, awkward, uneducated young man into one of the mostfamous and outspoken men in the world.From “Corno di Bassetto” to Quintus Fabius MaximusWhen Shaw first came to London, he spent much of his time at theBritish Museum Library, educating himself on topics ranging from phi-losophy to economics to opera to social etiquette. His initial success asan author was in journalism, writing art, music and theater criticism. Inhis music reviews Shaw literally made a name for himself as “Corno diBassetto” and as “GBS.” And, from the beginning, his writing was full ofirony and confrontation. For example, in a column on a performance ofHandel’sMessiah, Shaw “defended” the natural English voice against thecriticism of musical slowness by noting that “the natural fault of the English