The “Plumber-Philosopher”: Shaw’s Discourse on Domestic Sanitation

This article examines Shaw’s ideas on sanitation and health, in the context of personal experience of domestic plumbing and drainage problems at his country home Shaw’s Corner, in Hertfordshire. Inspired by the ideals of Victorian sanitarians, his views draw comparisons with twentieth-century modernist architects who celebrated new technologies controlling water and waste; yet in reality he became disillusioned owing to unwanted drips, leaks, noises, and smells. Shaw’s representations of plumbing and drainage in his prefaces, plays, and other writings include the use of mechanistic metaphors and satire to highlight these defects, offering commentary on the failings of health management in modern capitalist society.