Temperament of the Edwardians

30:1, Reviews We should note that Shaw himself was aware of the potential failure of language to effect a change in society or in humankind. He parodies his own loquaciousness in the speech of the Reverend Morell (with his "gift of the gab") and in the "Universal laughter" at Jack Tanner's talk as the curtain falls on Man and Superman. He concludes Too True to be Good—a play that Grene does not consider—with Aubrey, the preacher without a creed, speaking compulsively in the midst of an "inpenetrable fog." Aubrey preaches not because he has a message but because he must: "I am ignorant: I have lost my nerve and am intimidated: all I know is that I must find the way of life, for myself and all of us, or we shall surely perish. And meanwhile my gift has possession of me: I must preach and preach and preach no matter how late the hour and how short the day, no matter whether I have nothing to say—." Shaw's final stage direction explains to the reader that "The author, though himself a professional talk maker, does not believe that the world can be saved by talk alone." In the final analysis, however, Shaw opted for eloquence over ambiguity and for speech over silence. Those of us who are admirers of Shaw are grateful that he did. Elsie B. Adams _______________________________________San Diego State University_______ TEMPERAMENT OF THE EDWARDIANS Jonathan Rose. The Edwardian Temperament, 1895-1919. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1986. $26.95 Despite the thorough examination of primary and secondary materials that Jonathan Rose did before writing The Edwardian Temperament, his book comes across less a systematic study than a series of impressionistic essays dealing with aspects of Edwardian history and culture. To give him credit, Rose recognizes the difficulty of the task he set himself. In the introduction to the book, he admits the imprecision of the very term "Edwardian" and acknowledges that there is little agreement among authorities in different disciplines about the existence, let alone the duration, of that particular period in English history. He also notes the amorphousness of "temperament" and admits that another researcher might have chosen other traits to write about. In light of these acknowledged limitations on his work, it is especially unfortunate that Rose did not give The Edwardian Temperament a sharper rhetorical edge and provide the material in his book with the cohesion to be derived from a good, strong thesis. Part of the difficulty arises from Rose's decision to write a book drawing from sources in so many fields. He makes connections among the areas of psychic research, political science, literature, psychology, and art as these developed between 1895 and 1919. Of necessity, Rose sacrifices depth to breadth, and in the process he fails to demonstrate the permanent value of work done by figures 97 30:1, Reviews like G. E. Moore, H. G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw. Indeed, at times he seems chiefly intent on indicting the Edwardians for deliberate woollyheadedness , as if they or any other group of men had a monopoly on that. There are, nevertheless, solid and useful things in Rose's study. He provides the non-specialist, for example, with as clear and concise an account of Fabian principles as is cunently available. He demonstrates the degree to which connection, a theme associated with the novels of E. M. Forster, moved the thought and writing of other figures. He shows the pervasiveness of the catchword "life" in writers as diverse as Samuel Butler, George Moore, May Sinclair, and D. H. Lawrence. And he manages to reveal the degree to which Winston Churchill might be termed a typical product of the Edwardian period. The Edwardian Temperament is impressive in its demonstration of the Edwardian revolt against materialist science and substitution of scientific vitalism in its place. Rose succeeds in showing the appeal of Samuel Butler to men like Shaw and Wells, and he argues forcefully that Butler's success was due to the Edwardians' need to find a scientific system to replace Darwinism. He also claims that they were in search of a system of religious belief to substitute for...