Items related to Saint Joan: A Play

Shaw, George Bernard Saint Joan: A Play ISBN 13: 9781557421838

Saint Joan: A Play - Softcover

 
9781557421838: Saint Joan: A Play
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw, based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts and decided that the concerned people acted in good faith according to their beliefs. He wrote: "There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all [there is] about it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what normal men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions, that really concern us." Michael Holroyd has characterised the play as "a tragedy without villains" and also as Shaw's "only tragedy." John Fielden has discussed further the appropriateness of characterising Saint Joan as a tragedy.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:
Joan of Arc, born in 1412, was burned at the stake in 1431, canonized by the Catholic Church in 1920, and, like most saints, whitewashed by history. Canonization tends to strip a saint of supposedly un-Christian attributes such as rebelliousness, pride, and intolerance. And Joan, despite having been a stubborn, haughty, naive, even foolish girl, has for much of history been remembered only as a pious martyr. However, George Bernard Shaw's play, Saint Joan, completed in 1925, began the modern rehabilitation of the icon as a fully human, fallible character--not to mention a poster girl for teenage rebellion and feminism. Shaw's Joan, like the real Maid of Orleans, leads the fight to drive the English out of her native France, insists on direct communication with her God instead of submitting to the mediation of Catholic priests, and refuses to dress, speak, or act according to traditional notions of how women were expected to behave. Until the closing scene of Shaw's play, however, neither Joan nor her foes are cast in neatly heroic terms. Both are earnestly pursuing their partial visions of the truth. In the play's famous epilogue, Shaw suggests that even 400 years later, most of us are so limited by our own perspectives that we are unable to tell the difference between a saint and a heretic. "O God that madest this beautiful earth, when will it be ready to receive Thy saints?" Joan asks, preparing for her death. "How long, O Lord, how long?" --Michael Joseph Gross
From the Back Cover:
'Everything she did was thoroughly calculated; and though the process was so rapid that she was hardly conscious of it, and ascribed it all to her voices, she was a woman of policy and not of blind impulse'

With Saint Joan, Shaw reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. In this magnificent play he distilled many of the ideas he had been trying to express in earlier works on the subjects of politics, religion and creative evolution. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc, but unhappy with the way she had traditionally been depicted, Shaw wanted to remove 'the whitewash which disfigures her beyond recognition'. He presents a realistic Joan: proud, intolerant, naive, foolhardy, always brave -- a rebel who challenged the conventions and values of her day. As Imogen Stubbs writes, 'All Joans are relevant but some Joans are more relevant than others -- I think Shaw's Saint Joan is the right one to be received by the twenty-first century'.

The definitive text under the editorial supervision of Dan H. Laurence

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherGBS Books
  • Publication date2010
  • ISBN 10 1557421838
  • ISBN 13 9781557421838
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages148
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780140437911: Saint Joan (Penguin Classics)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780140437911
Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2001
Softcover

9780486836638: Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and An Epilogue (Dover Thrift Editions: Plays)

Dover ..., 2019
Softcover

9786057861849: Saint Joan

E-Kita..., 1923
Hardcover

9781945186899: Saint Joan (Clydesdale Classics)

Clydes..., 2020
Softcover

9780140480054: Saint Joan: A Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue, Definitive Text

Pengui..., 1946
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Shaw, George Bernard
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_1557421838

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 21.11
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Shaw, George Bernard
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 1557421838-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 25.53
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Shaw, George Bernard
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-1557421838-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 25.54
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

George Bernard Shaw
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Print on Demand
Seller:
Revaluation Books
(Exeter, United Kingdom)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 148 pages. 9.00x6.00x0.37 inches. This item is printed on demand. Seller Inventory # zk1557421838

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 15.35
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 12.73
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Shaw, George Bernard
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Paperback Quantity: 2
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB1557421838

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 31.21
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Shaw, George Bernard
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think1557421838

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 27.53
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Shaw, George Bernard
Published by GBS Books (2010)
ISBN 10: 1557421838 ISBN 13: 9781557421838
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover1557421838

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 54.96
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds