Handwritten responses to a questionnaire, signed "GBS, 21/1/35," one page, 8.5 x 11, returned to University of Rochester English professor Wilbur Dwight Dunkel, who was planning a lecture on Shaw's plays Candida, Man and Superman, and Saint Joan. The questionnaire reads: "1. In your opinion have your plays an underlying philosophy of fatalism? [Shaw:] No. I am a Creative Evolutionist. The preface to Back to Methuselah explains exactly. 2. In Candida did you begin work with a particular woman in mind [struck through by Shaw:] or did the idea amuse you? [Shaw:] No. The idea was to vindicate the part played in the world by the mother and housewife. 3. Is the secret which the poet (Marchbanks) holds in his heart the recognition of what he has accomplished for Candida and for James? [Shaw:] I have always guessed that it was his recognition of the entire impossibility of the Morell-Candida life for himself. 4. Does Jack Tanner's idealism represent the attitude of young G.B.S.? [Shaw:] Has he any idealism? Tanner derives all his interest from his grip of facts. 5. Is Joan a symbol, or did she seem to you to be real? [Shaw:] Joan is a matter-of-fact portrait of a very interesting and extraordinary girl who actually existed. I have only arranged her history for the stage." To Dunkel's remark, "May I say that sincerely hope that you have completely recovered from your recent illness," Shaw writes: "Yes, thank you." In fine condition, with intersecting folds and a short tear to the left edge.
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