The Shaw-Rostand Connection

I found out today, by reading some of his letters, that George Bernard Shaw liked the plays of Edmond Rostand. I had no idea.

Apparently Shaw had a good understanding of French, although he didn't like to speak it with Parisians, which is perfectly understandable, since they pretend not to understand you unless you speak it perfectly. As Mark Twain had it:

In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.

I have seen the Shaw and Rostand opposed to one another, and with good reason:

In an age when Bernard Shaw was writing cynical tracts like Man and Superman, Rostand revels in romanticism:

I sing, dream, laugh, and go where I please, alone and free. My eyes see clearly and my voice is strong. I'm quarrelsome or benign as it suits my pleasure, always ready to fight a duel or write a poem at the drop of a hat.

What was the connection? My take is that Shaw was not really a cynic, more of a disappointed idealist, and he shared with Rostand a hatred of hypocrisy and a love of the authentic.

Rostand was far more lyrical,
but both were sharply satirical.