Abstract
The impact of Bernard Shaw on the Spanish cultural scene extends well beyond his works as a playwright, and yet the reception of his works and ideas has not been fully cataloged or documented in any depth. This chapter seeks to redress this lacuna by analyzing the Spanish reception of Shaw’s works and ideas through a selection of comments published in Spain during Shaw’s lifetime. As we shall see, the critical attention Shaw received in Spain at the beginning of the twentieth century was relatively scarce, but was later to flourish—especially from the mid-1910s onward—when readers and the public discovered his plays. This analysis is divided into three sections and follows a linear, chronological order. First, I will cover the years leading up to the First World War, when Shaw became a well-known playwright and gained literary prestige. I will then analyze the reception of Shaw’s works until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, examining both the publication and performances of his plays and Shaw’s intellectual impact after he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Lastly, I will discuss the reception of his works and ideas until the end of his life in 1950, focusing mostly on the criticism of his published plays and their performances. As will be seen, some of the most prestigious Spanish-speaking critics—including Ramiro de Maeztu, Luis Araquistáin, and Andrenio, among others—were not indifferent to Shaw, either as a playwright or as a public figure, but expressed deep admiration for the Irish playwright. My analysis concludes with a general discussion of the reception of Shaw’s works and his most influential ideas in Spain.
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Notes
- 1.
Due to editorial constraints, the chapter focuses only on the most widely acclaimed performances, namely those of Mrs Warren’s Profession , Pygmalion , Saint Joan, and Candida .
- 2.
This study has been carried out with materials available in the digitized archives of the Spanish National Library (http://www.bne.es/es/Catalogos/HemerotecaDigital/), the Virtual Library of Historical Press (http://prensahistorica.mcu.es/es/estaticos/contenido.cmd?pagina=estaticos/presentacion), and the digital archives of ABC (http://hemeroteca.abc.es/) and La Vanguardia (http://www.lavanguardia.com/hemeroteca).
- 3.
Ramiro de Maeztu. “¡Cándida en París!.” La Correspondencia de España (30 May 1908), 1.
- 4.
Maeztu’s views on Socialism were largely ambivalent. See Jiménez Torres in this volume.
- 5.
Asela Rodríguez-Seda de Laguna, Shaw en el mundo hispánico (Río Piedras: Editorial Universitaria, 1981), 25.
- 6.
See José-Carlos Mainer, La Edad de Plata (1902–1939). Ensayo de interpretación de un proceso cultural (Madrid: Cátedra, 1981). See also Hernán Urrutia, “La Edad de Plata de la literatura española,” Cauce. Revista de Filología y su Didáctica 22–23 (2000): 581–595.
- 7.
Rafael Altamira, “La decadencia en Francia,” La Correspondencia de Alicante (19 April 1904), 1.
- 8.
Luis de Vargas, “Revista bibliográfica,” Nuestro Tiempo (10 April 1906), 84.
- 9.
José María Sembí, “Bernard Shaw,” La Ciudad Lineal 335 (1908), 467.
- 10.
Ramiro de Maeztu, “Ecos de Londres. The Philanderer,” La Correspondencia de España (28 February 1907), 1.
- 11.
José Escofet, “Puntos de vista. El dominio de la guerra,” La Vanguardia (26 April 1917), 10.
- 12.
A good thermometer to measure the reception of any author’s work (in this case, Bernard Shaw’s) is the press. It includes comments of all kinds, often associated with the staging of a specific work. Hence, in this chapter there are numerous references to these articles of theater criticism, especially when the performances involve companies and actors of renown in the cultural panorama of the time.
- 13.
Luis Bello, “Crónica del teatro. Bernard Shaw en el Teatro de Arte,” Faro (9 August 1908), 309–10. As Luis Bello says, this work had to wait until he could premier it at the Free Theatre of the Stage Society. In New York, the performance was forbidden.
- 14.
P. Caballero, “Crónica teatral,” La Lectura Dominical (August 15, 1908), 523.
- 15.
Alejandro Miquis, “La Semana Teatral. Trata de blancas,” Nuevo Mundo (30 July 1908), 25.
- 16.
Julio Broutá, “Revistas y libros. Benavente en los Estados Unidos,” España. Semanario de la vida nacional (3 February 1916), 14.
- 17.
Alejandro Miquis, “La Semana Teatral,” Nuevo Mundo, 25.
- 18.
“La semana teatral. Bernard Shaw en Eslava,” España. Semanario de la vida nacional (27 November 1920), 15.
- 19.
Francisco Aznar Navarro, “Novedades teatrales,” La Correspondencia de España (13 November 1920), 6.
- 20.
Andrenio, “Veladas teatrales,” La Época (6 November 1920), 1.
- 21.
For further information on the translated works of Shaw into Spanish, see Coll-Vinent and Ruano San Segundo in this volume.
- 22.
See José Escofet, “Puntos de vista. El dominio de la guerra,” La Vanguardia (26 April 1917), 10.
- 23.
See Luis Araquistáin, “Momentos de la guerra. Un llamamiento de Bernard Shaw,” El Liberal (16 November 1914), 1. Andrenio, “El factor hombre,” La Época (17 December 1914), 1.
- 24.
Ramiro de Maeztu, “La coalición de los intelectuales,” Heraldo de Madrid (18 February 1916), 1.
- 25.
“Obras de G. Bernard Shaw.—El sentido común y la guerra.—Androcles y el león, comedia en tres actos; Hombre y superhombre, comedia en cuatro actos. Traducciones de Julio Broutá. Madrid, 1915,” Nuevo Mundo (17 July 1915), 41.
- 26.
Critilo, “La semana teatral. Bernard Shaw en Eslava,” España. Semanario de la vida nacional (27 November 27 1920), 13–14.
- 27.
See, for example, Andrew A. Anderson, “Coincidencias y paralelismos: las carreras teatrales de Ricardo Baeza y Cipriano Rivas Cheriff,” in Actas del XII Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas. 21–26 de agosto de 1995, Birmingham, vol. 4, ed. Derek Flitter (Birmingham: University of Birmingham, 1998), 41–49.
- 28.
See, for instance, Villiams Haynes, “Jacinto Benavente, por Villiams Haynes,” La Lectura. Revista de ciencias y de artes 233, no. 2 (May 1920): 127–133.
- 29.
Ramiro de Maeztu, “El dilema del Doctor. Drama de Bernard Shaw,” La Correspondencia de España (27 November 1906), 1.
- 30.
“Guía de espectáculos,” El Imparcial (19 November 1920), 5.
- 31.
“Entre bastidores,” El Liberal (21 November 1920), 4.
- 32.
Mauricio Bacarisse, “La persecución de lo paradisiaco (Impresiones teatrales),” España. Semanario de la vida nacional (4 December 1920), 10.
- 33.
Rodríguez-Seda de Laguna, Shaw en el mundo hispánico, 36.
- 34.
Andrenio, “Veladas teatrales,” La Época (6 November 1920), 1.
- 35.
Ibid.
- 36.
Xabier Cabello Lapiedra, “Crónica teatral,” La Ilustración española y americana (30 November 1920), 568.
- 37.
“El teatro,” La Acción (21 March 1922), 2.
- 38.
“Gacetillas,” El Sol (28 February 1923), 2.
- 39.
“Gacetillas teatrales,” La Correspondencia de España (4 April 1924), 5.
- 40.
“Pigmalión de Bernard Shaw,” La Acción (8 September 1920), 6.
- 41.
This project aimed to build a place that “would take away and perhaps erase the sad beggar-like sensation” of retired actors, who did not enjoy a comfortable position once their careers came to an end. See Felipe Sassone, “Por y para la ‘casa del actor,’” ABC (15 May 1936), 14.
- 42.
Revista de Occidente was founded in 1923 by José Ortega y Gasset, philosopher and authority among the Spanish thinkers of the first half of twentieth century. The periodical included translations from the most important European and American philosophers, men of letters, and scientists, such as Georg Simmel, Bernard Shaw, and Hermann Weyl, among others. The journal continues to be published.
- 43.
Antonio G. Linares, “Una obra que da que hablar. La Santa Juana de Bernard Shaw,” La Esfera (26 April 1924), 34.
- 44.
Spanish critics and newspapers also reported on the premieres in Berlin, Vienna, and London.
- 45.
Melchor Fernández Almagro, “Margarita Xirgu y Bernard Shaw,” La Época (31 October 1925), 5.
- 46.
“Música y teatros,” La Vanguardia (28 October 1925), 19.
- 47.
Anna Soler Horta, “Notícia de la recepció del teatre de G. B. Shaw a Catalunya (1908–1938),” in La traducción en la Edad de Plata, ed. Luis Pegenaute (Barcelona: PPU, 2001), 300.
- 48.
“Música y teatros,” La Vanguardia (3 November 1925), 23.
- 49.
“El teatro en provincias,” El Heraldo de Madrid (8 September 1927), 5.
- 50.
Enrique de Mesa, “Vida teatral. La compañía Pitoeff en el Alkázar,” El Imparcial (4 February 1927), 1.
- 51.
M. M., “Los teatros,” La Libertad (4 February 1927), 5.
- 52.
Crispín, “La Semana Teatral. ‘Pepa Doncel’ y ‘El Benaventismo’,” Nuevo Mundo (30 November 1928), 24.
- 53.
Anna Soler Horta, “Notícia de la recepció,” 295–296.
- 54.
Enrique de Mesa, “Anoche, en los teatros. Un estreno en el Infanta Beatriz,” El Imparcial (25 November 1928), 3.
- 55.
Ibid.
- 56.
Antonio de Obregón, “Teatros. Notas para la temporada 1928–1929,” Atlántico. Revista mensual de la vida hispanoamericana (5 June 1929), 60–64.
- 57.
Fadrique, “Crónica teatral,” La lectura dominical (1 December 1928), 834.
- 58.
Juan G. Olmedilla, “Las novedades teatrales del sábado,” El Heraldo de Madrid (26 November 1928), 5.
- 59.
Enrique de Mesa, “Anoche, en los teatros,” 3.
- 60.
“Información teatral,” El Sol (18 July 1929), 7.
- 61.
“El teatro en provincias,” Heraldo de Madrid (21 February 1930), 6.
- 62.
This play was performed by Carmen Díaz’s theater company. It premiered first in Barcelona in 1927 and then in Málaga in 1928, before returning to Barcelona in 1930. The translation of the title was not clear in Spanish; hence the variant versions, such as La conversión del capitán Brandelourg, La conversión del capitán Brandsbunrd, and La conversión del capitán Brasbond.
- 63.
This fact did not go unnoticed by the critics, who extoled the work of these actress-entrepreneurs in performing Shaw’s plays. See Manuel G. Nogales, “Bernard Shaw en España. De Margarita Xirgu a la Membrives, pasando por Carmen Díaz y la Bárcena,” Estampa (28 March 1931), 22. See also Pilar Nieva de la Paz, “Las autoras teatrales españolas frente al público y la crítica (1918–1936),” in Actas del XI Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, vol. 2, ed. Juan Villegas (California: University of California, 1994): 129–139.
- 64.
In fact, some of the most important Spanish playwrights of the first half of twentieth century—Álvarez Quintero, the Machado brothers, Jacinto Benavente—wrote roles for Lola Membrives. Together with María Teresa Montoya and Margarita Xirgu, she was also one of the principal actresses of Federico García Lorca’s theater.
- 65.
Luis Araujo-Costa, “Veladas teatrales,” La Época (21 March 1931), 1.
- 66.
See “Algunas escenas de la nueva obra de Bernard Shaw,” Heraldo de Madrid (1 March 1924), 5. See also “¡Alo, Madrid! Sobre las rocas,” La Libertad (15 December 1933), 3.
- 67.
See Pedro Penzol, “Desde Londres. La última comedia de G. Bernard Shaw,” La Libertad (14 November 1923), 4. See also “Juana de Arco, Bernard Shaw y el público francés,” Heraldo de Madrid (22 March 1924), 3. “La Juana de Arco de Bernard Shaw en Berlín,” Heraldo de Madrid (27 December 1924), 5.
- 68.
It is worth noting that although the Nobel Prize corresponds to 1925, the jury’s decision was published in the following year.
- 69.
“Mr. Bernard Shaw,” El Sol (24 November 1926), 5.
- 70.
Ibid.
- 71.
María Antonia de Isabel Estrada, “George Bernard Shaw y John Osborne: recepción y recreación de su teatro en España durante el Franquismo” (PhD diss., Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2004), 53.
- 72.
“ABC en Roma. Hollywood, Palestina dorada,” ABC Sevilla (11 March 1939), 4.
- 73.
“Notas teatrales de Mi revista,” Mi revista (1 April 1938), 32. The play was translated into Catalan by Carles Capdevila. It had been performed only once during Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship.
- 74.
“Teatros y conciertos,” La Vanguardia (5 August 1938), 5.
- 75.
Isabel Estrada, “George Bernard Shaw y John Osborne,” 241.
- 76.
Isabel Estrada, “George Bernard Shaw y John Osborne,” 242.
- 77.
Ibid.
- 78.
All the news reports and reviews speak of this play as a “one-act,” but there is no further information as to its plot or characters. Hence, we can only hypothesize from the title (literally, Stronger Than Them) which play from the Shavian canon it actually was—Annajanska or How He Lied to Her Husband , most likely.
- 79.
Isabel Estrada, “George Bernard Shaw y John Osborne,” 243.
- 80.
Ibid.
- 81.
In Michael Holroyd, Bernard Shaw. The Lure of Fantasy (1918–1951), vol. 3 (New York: Random House, 1991), 243.
- 82.
Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters (1926–1950), Dan H. Laurence, ed. (New York: Penguin), 538.
- 83.
Michael Holroyd, Bernard Shaw, 422.
- 84.
Ibid.
- 85.
Ibid.
- 86.
Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters (1926–1950), 622–623.
- 87.
“Bernard Shaw,” Ínsula 59 (1950): 8.
- 88.
Jacinto Miquelarena, “Al amanecer el día de hoy, ha fallecido el ilustre escritor y dramaturgo Bernard Shaw,” ABC (2 November 1950), 22.
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Nieto Caballero, G. (2022). The Reception of George Bernard Shaw’s Works and Ideas in Spain. In: Rodríguez Martín, G.A. (eds) Bernard Shaw and the Spanish-Speaking World. Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97423-7_7
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