Title: Heartbreak House
First published: January 30, 1965
Description: <p>Published in 1919, <i>Heartbreak House</i> is an examination of the failings of the European leisure classes before World War I—failings that author <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/george-bernard-shaw">George Bernard Shaw</a> blamed for the war, and that he predicted would quickly lead to another, longer war.</p> <p>The play is set in an English country house, where representatives of every type of English society have gathered at the home of the seemingly-mad Captain Shotover. Hidebound aristocrats and cultured bohemians, wealthy capitalists and radical idealists, prim moralists and idle libertines, are all laid bare in one of Shaw’s bleakest and yet most absurd plays.</p>
Subjects: Manuscripts, Facsimiles, Drama, Upper class, British and irish drama (dramatic works by one author), World War, 1914-1918 -- Drama, Upper class -- England -- Drama, England -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Drama
People: Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)