Innovation in the Study of Bernard Shaw's Plays: A Review of The Ethical Expressions of Society and Politics: A Study on George Bernard Shaw's Plays

Liu Maosheng's new book The Ethical Expressions of Society and Politics: A Study on George Bernard Shaw's Plays (Published by People's Publishing House in 2019) offers a unique and innovative perspective to the works of George Bernard Shaw by adopting Ethical Literary Criticism as the analytical approach. Based on close reading, the book fully explores the ethical values of Shaw's plays against the backdrop of Victorian literature as a whole, and systematically expounds the unique expression and richness of Shaw's ethical ideals developed in his four phases of play writing, with a special focus on interpretation of society and politics, two fundamental themes in Shaw's plays, and an emphasis on literature's responsibility to reflect reality and its function to educate readers. This books features structural integrity, vigorous logic, sufficient textual evidence and innovative opinions, with both its analytical perspective and the arguments and conclusion drawn being profoundly original. It's a pioneering work in the research of Shaw's play writing which provides a brand-new approach to the study of Shaw's works and serves as successful research model to help us better reflect on Shaw's significant contribution to English Literature.