Remembering The Independent Shavian

Abstract

ABSTRACT A brief history of The Independent Shavian, the journal of The Bernard Shaw Society, a forum for varying points of view and items of interest revolving around Bernard Shaw. Both the journal and society are now defunct. The history, as recounted by longtime Vice President Sally Peters, is followed by three articles using her writing as examples of published pieces, presented chronologically as they appeared in the last six years of the journal. The first was an immediate response to Peter Tompkins and his claim concerning his mother, Molly Tompkins, and Shaw. The second was drawn from Eric Bentley’s personal correspondence with Thornton Wilder, concerning both Brecht and Shaw, the latter negatively viewed by Wilder. The third piece—literally the final piece ever to be published in The Independent Shavian—circles back as Shaw mourns William Archer, learns the tango, and describes his experience of the dance to Molly Tompkins.