Irwin Shaw

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Shaw, Irwin (1913–84),Brooklyn‐born writer whose works are marked by dramatic intensity and social awareness. His plays include Bury the Dead (1936); Siege (1937); The Gentle People (1939); Retreat to Pleasure (1940); Sons and Soldiers (1944), about a woman dreaming of the life of her unborn son; The Assassin (1944), set in World War II; and Children from Their Games (1963), a comedy. His novels are The Young Lions (1948), tracing the fortunes of two American soldiers, one a Jew, the other a Gentile, and of the Nazi who kills the first and is killed by the second; The Troubled Air (1951), about radio actors harried by flimsy charges of Communist sympathies; Lucy Crown (1956), about a middle‐aged woman's romance; Two Weeks in Another Town (1960); Voices of a Summer Day (1965), a middle‐aged man's bittersweet memories; Rich Man, Poor Man (1970), the stories of two brothers and their sister set against the world scene from the 1940s to 1970; Evening in Byzantium (1973), portraying an aging Hollywood producer; Nightwork (1975), a lively depiction of a sophisticated international confidence man; Beggarman, Thief (1977), a melodramatic sequel to Rich Man, Poor Man; The Top of the Hill (1979), about a successful businessman trying to find himself; Bread Upon the Waters (1981); and Acceptable Losses (1982). Sailor Off the Bremen (1939), Welcome to the City (1941), Act of Faith (1946), Mixed Faith (1950), Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957), Love on a Dark Street (1965), God Was Here But He Left Early (1973), and Five Decades (1978) collect stories. In the Company of Dolphins (1964) describes a cruise Shaw made in the Mediterranean, and Paris! Paris! (1977) contains essays.

Shaw, Irwin (1913–84), playwright. Born in New York and educated at Brooklyn College, the writer briefly gave promise of becoming an important dramatist, coming from his early antiwar play Bury the Dead (1936) and the character study The Gentle People (1939). His other theatre works included Siege (1937), Retreat to Pleasure (1941), Sons and Soldiers (1943), The Assassin (1945), Patate (1958), and Children from Their Games (1963). Although Shaw's sympathies fell in line with the leftish sentiments of many playgoers and critics, his later writings were wanting in terms of theatrical effectiveness. He finally abandoned the theatre to become a popular novelist.