Nobel Prize–winning Irish dramatist and critic (1856–1950) who takes a place among the most distinguished and influential literary figures of his time. Unsigned manuscript in Shaw’s hand on an 8 x 10.25 sheet, no date. Shaw was posed a question, typed at the top of the sheet with handwritten annotations, by interviewer F. V. Conolly [spellings and punctuation retained]: “Why do you think Poverty must be abolished Mr. Shaw? The Churches declare ‘Blessed are the Poor’. Another common aphorism is that ‘God made both rich and poor.’” Shaw’s response: “I dislike poverty, and notice that my feeling about it is shared to the extent that everybody who can avoid it does so, even at the cost of committing any atrocity that is not technically criminal. The Church, giving the Apostolic Succession and very little else to its unfortunate curates (not to mention many of its beneficed clergymen), naturally proclaims them blessed. The aphorism that God made both rich and poor is a lie. Naked we come into the world and naked we go out of it. If we choose to rob one another in the interval that is not God’s fault. It might as well be said that God made archbishops and burglars, as a justification of burglary.” In very good condition, with a few tiny holes and chips to top margin, light, even toning, and wrinkling and intersecting folds (touching text but not affecting legibility). The text is clearly penned and dark throughout. R&R COA.
