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''The Quintessence of Ibsenism'' is an essay written in 1891 by George Bernard Shaw, providing an extended analysis of the works of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and of Ibsen's critical reception in England. By extension, Shaw uses this "exposition of Ibsenism" to illustrate the imperfections of British society, notably employing to that end an imaginary "community of a thousand persons," divided into three categories: Philistines, Idealists, and the lone Realist. The essay originated in response to a call for papers from the Fabian Society in the spring of 1890, "put forward under the general heading 'Socialism in Contemporary Literature.'". Shaw read the original paper, "the first form of this little book" at the St. James's Restaurant on 18 July 1890. Shaw devotes the piece largely to a discussion of Ibsen's recurring topic of the strong character holding out against social hypocrisy, while acknowledging in his essay's final sentence that the quintessence of Ibsenism is that "there is no formula". ==Categorisations== The classification of an individual character into one of the three categories depends on his use or rejection of ideals, which Shaw views as masks which "hide the face of () truth". Idealists, as their name indicates, rely exclusively on the use of masks; a realist insists on their removal. The Philistine, term for which Shaw is indebted to Matthew Arnold, neither constructs nor removes masks, content not to question reality. According to Shaw, "()ut of a thousand persons (), there are 700 Philistines, 299 idealists, and only one lone realist". 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Quintessence of Ibsenism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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