7. ‘Farfetched’

‘Farfetched’ focuses on the end of George Bernard Shaw’s life and his own sense of his legacy. In crafting the title of the 1948 allegorical digest of his beliefs Farfetched Fables, Shaw selects the adjective ‘farfetched’ to describe the breadth of its mythic vision. The word is equally apt when applied to Shaw’s longevity, the scale of his thinking, and the extended, sustained reach of his writing. Alongside other attempts in his final years to encapsulate the Shavian sensibility, Sixteen Self Sketches (1949) indicates his investment in shaping how he would be remembered. Shaw’s relationship to posterity is reflected in his extended engagement with William Shakespeare’s work, particularly in Shakes versus Shav (1949).