Литература двух Америк (Jun 2023)
“Interpreter of Life” and “Maker of Universes”: Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein
Abstract
The article focuses on the two great figures of the XX century, Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein. Their occupations belonged to quite distant realms of science and fiction, and the only event that united the two in public consciousness was Shaw’s speech in honor of Einstein at the OTR fundraising dinner at the Savoy Hotel on 28th October 1930 where he bestowed the honorary title of “Maker of the Universe” upon the scientist. However, these two great men had much more in common than it is generally accepted. The paper presents some little-known details of Shaw — Einstein relationship, establishes a correlation between their views on a number of socio-political, scientific, philosophic, ethical and aesthetical issues including common grounds and principal differences in their attitude towards the USA and the American social structure. Apart from the few existing articles in the foreign academic journals, this research relies on the official European and American press records of Shaw’s and Einstein’s speeches, their private correspondence, diary entries, memoirs and (auto)biographies created by their close friends, colleagues and contemporaries (such as Beatrice Webb, Leopold Infeld, Ronald Clark), as well as Einstein’s essays and Shaw’s dramas. Another significant figure in the paper is the American writer and scientist Archibald Henderson who, according to professor W.L. Phelps, was “perhaps the only living man who can talk on their own level with the two greatest intellects of today, George Bernard Shaw and Albert Einstein.” The vast majority of documents, radio and video addresses cited in this article have not been translated into Russian; the paper is a pioneering study in Russia, where this topic remains unknown and haven’t so far attracted attention of the Russian academia.
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