Name:George Bernard Shaw
Year Won: 1925
Read: Pygmalion
Original Language:English
Reason: "for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty"
About: You are likely already familiar with the plot of Pygmalion, seeing as My Fair Lady borrowed heavily from it. With that said, the plot is entertaining and fairly straight forward. A linguist bets with another that he can transform a flower girl into someone who is mistaken for duchess by fixing her speech. After some hilarity (most of it when she meets with the linguist's mother), she is able to do so. In Pygmalion, the girl is then set up with her own flowershop. The end.
Like all of Shaw's plays (I've also read Major Barbara and Man and Superman) it is cleverly written and insanely witty. The ability of Shaw to convey information while using only dialogue (and making that dialogue sound natural) is truly phenomenal. His wit is genuinely funny and his political commentary is astute and sometimes painful.
I suspect that the reason Pygmalion is one of his favorites is that it's commentary (that there really isn't anything that differentiates the rich from the poor other than manners), is far more acceptable than his more biting critiques found in other works.
What I liked: I think I described it above - Shaw is legitimately funny and a great playwrite.
What I Disliked: I found his preferences to be rather dull. The work should speak for itself, Shaw! Aside from that, there's very little to dislike in Pygmalion. I could find much more to dislike in his other works. (For instance, I'm more than a little annoyed at the idea in Man and Superman that women don't aspire to greatness. Why not try telling that to Selma Lagerlöf, Shaw?)
Should it have won a Nobel: Yes. Whether he's truly the second greatest playwrite in the English language after Shakespeare or not, he is a great playwrite and satirist and deserves the nod.
Next up: Grazia Deledda's novel "The Mother".
