The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God by George Bernard Shaw

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The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for GodMy rating:

“The Adventures Of The Black Girl In Her Search For God”, published in 1932, must have been viewed as unconventional, perhaps even heretic.

In this short story, Shaw’s wit and humour shimmer on the surface at times, but it is a rather more solemn affair than Pygmalion. This is definitely Shaw the polemicist, and/or political activist writing. A second part was later added to the book (included in this version) in which Shaw gives context to his "black girl allegory" against a backdrop of worldwide crisis.

The tale tells the story of a black girl converted to Christianity. Dissatisfied with her missionary’s answers to her questions, she sets off to find answers herself in a quite literal interpretation of “seek and you shall find.”

And she does find quite an army of Gods and Messiahs, and Scientists along the way. If we compare it to contemporary thinking about the scriptures, Shaw’s views are somewhat outdated (but perhaps he contributed to creating what are today well-trodden paths).

It is interesting to read what a commotion this publication caused at the time and that many critical parodies were written in return. I’d be interested in reading them but for lack of time and my already humongous pile of books to read!

Happy reading everybody!

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Comments

  1. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz22 August 2020 at 20:08

    This is a completely new-to-me book. I can only imagine what sorts of controversy that it stirred up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elinor24 August 2020 at 21:39

      It was to me too. I have paired up with a Goodreads buddy to read George Bernard Shaw. Not sure why the quest anymore, but it’s interesting!

      I did look this book up on Wikipedia afterwards in search of critical reception - and what a reception it got!

      Thank you for stopping by Deb, hope your reading is doing well - still working on Sue’s Summer Challenge here (at least trying to!).

      Delete

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