Shavian
/ˈʃeɪvɪən
/adjective
Relating to or in the manner of George Bernard Shaw or his writings or ideas: their ceaseless flow of Shavian chatter...
- The hero of a nineteenth-century social novel, or of a Shavian play of ideas, might well be its author's mouthpiece, but the hero would also achieve victory within the work itself.
- But, in addition to familiar Shavian reversal, the play also offers a testament to the power of faith - the willingness of the heroine, Lavinia, to sacrifice herself for God is a metaphor for Shaw's belief in socialism and the life force.
- It is conceivable that Douglas was the prototype for the part when the play was written, in 1894, a piece of Shavian mischievousness which would have had to have been concealed from the censor and public at the time of the production, in 1904.
noun
An admirer of Shaw or his work.Stoppard is a residualist romantic rather than a latter-day Shavian; his play is best in tracing the collapse of a dysfunctional marriage and the incremental humiliation of its hero....
- The Devil, of course, defends those hedonistic amenities, whereas Juan, a true Shavian, wants none of them and heads for a thinker's Heaven.
Origin
From Shavius (Latinized form of Shaw) + -an.