Back to Methuselah. A Metabiological Pentateuch.

XCI, 267 pp. 8vo. Half dark blue morocco, spine in 6 compartments with gilt lettering, top edge gilt, lower edge partly uncut (by Riviere & son). London, (Clark, Edinburgh, for) Constable & Company, 1921. First English edition, the American edition published by Brentano was issued shortly before. Shaw's ( 1856-1950) play was first produced at the Garrick Theatre in New York in 1922, the first English performance was given in Birmingham in 1923. "Back to Methuselah" consists of five parts, in fact individual dramas, entitled: At the Beginning: 4004 B.C.; The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day; The Thing Happens, A.D. 2170; Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000; and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31920. The cycle is considered Shaw's main philosophical work, interpreting the history of mankind from the Garden of Eden to the present, with visions of things to come in the far future. It is based on ideas of Lamarck, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Bergson. If the play lacks in action, it certainly shows convincing originality of thought. - KNLL XV, 368. LITERATURE: ENGLISH ;