http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1783711351

The philanderer

The Philanderer, Shaw's devilishly comic play introduces Leonard Charteris, a man committed to remaining unattached. He is a philosophizing philanderer who believes that only conventional people marry while advanced people form "charming friendships." But when he meets a self-described "new woman" who belongs only to herself and is the property of no man, he finds he may have met his match, if not his mate. Charteris, ''likes to tell the truth, but doesn't want to hear it'' and confesses he ''could love any woman as long as she was pretty.'' Leonard finds himself in the awkward situation of being romantically involved with two women at the same time - the jealous Julia Craven and Grace Tranfield, a young widow. Leonard's particular dilemma is how to end his affair with Julia. He will even resort to marriage - either his own or Julia's - to accomplish this. At the center of the play is the ''Ibsen Club, '' a new society that advocates only the most modern and advanced views and for which the only requirement for membership is that a woman not act womanly and a man refrain from manly behavior. ''It must be a den of infamy, '' Grace's father observes when told of the rules. ''And so it is, '' Leonard assures him. Julia, in total disregard for the precepts of ''Ibsenism, '' begins to behave like a 'woman', tearily refusing to accept that her affair with Leonard is over. Leonard finally turns to Dr. Paramore, the discoverer of a rare and fatal liver disease from which Julia's father is suffering, and tries to persuade him to marry Julia. But Dr. Paramore may be on the brink of ruin. He has just learned that his research is dubious and the disease that bears his name may not exist. That Julia's father might now live is small consolation.

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