The Fabian Society was a socialist group whose goal was nothing short of the transformation of England through a more vibrant political and intellectual base, and Shaw became heavily involved, even editing a famous tract the group published ( Fabian Essays in Socialism, 1889). Shaw soon turned his attention to politics and the activities of the British intelligentsia, joining the Fabian Society in 1884. Unfortunately, despite the time he spent writing them, his novels were dismal failures, widely rejected by publishers. Shaw struggled financially, and his mother essentially supported him while he spent time in the British Museum reading room, working on his first novels. In 1872, Shaw's mother left her husband and took Shaw's two sisters to London, and four years later Shaw followed (his younger sister had died in the meantime), deciding to become a writer. The third child, Shaw's early education took the form of tutoring sessions provided by his clerical uncle.Įarly on, Shaw explored the worlds of the arts (music, art, literature) under his mother's guidance and through regular visits to the National Gallery of Ireland. Playwright George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland, on July 26, 1856.

During his lifetime, he wrote more than 60 plays and won many other awards, among them the Nobel Prize. His play Pygmalion was later made into a film twice, and the screenplay he wrote for the first version of it won an Oscar. In 1895, he became a theater critic for the Saturday Review and began writing plays of his own. In 1876 he moved to London, where he wrote regularly but struggled financially. George Bernard Shaw was born July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland.

Saint john by george bernard shaw