Tim,
My honest answer to your query is "both".
In spite of Shaw's ugly comment about America I started off really admiring
Shaw as a young undergraduate, but the more I read his plays, the more
"recipe-oriented" they began to appear to me, and eventually I lost interest in
his art (such as it is). Paul Johnson's book (Johnson is in my view a truly
remarkable historian) merely reflected my opinions, so naturally I agreed.
;-)
Although there is a hard kernel of truth in Shaw's nasty comment about America,
it also reflects the strength of America. Yes, on occasion we are coarse, but
you need to bear in mind that on occasion we are a lot of things, It's a big
country, with loads of freedom to "be who you want to be", and that brings out
the best as well as the worse in our species.
New York City "ain't" Montana, (thank God). Long may the differences
thrive... they enrich us all!
Best regards,
Joe Erkes
**********************
twallace-murphy@supanet.com wrote:
> Dear Joe,
>
> Many thanks for the kind comments. If I may venture a rather tongue-in-cheek
> comment - is you prejudice aginst Shaw simply second-hand or does it derive
> from his comment about America 'The only country to go from barbarism to
> decadence without an intervening period of culture'?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Tim