Author: Steven F. Bloom Ph.D.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313049092
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
Eugene O'Neill is the only American dramatist ever to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He wrote over 50 plays; a number are virtually unknown by the general public; several are considered classics of the American stage; all of them demonstrate, in one way or another, how O'Neill challenged the conventional boundaries of the drama of his time and thereby paved the way for modern American theatre. This volume will provide guides to eight of O'Neill's plays that are most often studied in schools and colleges: The Hairy Ape, Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, Desire Under the Elms, Ah, Wilderness!, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. More than almost any other author in any fictional genre, O'Neill's works are highly autobiographical. The love/hate relationships he had with the members of his own family resonate throughout his dramatic works. The son of an alcoholic and a morphine addict, he struggled with chemical dependency throughout his life, but determined to be an artist or nothing, he eventually gave up drinking and fulfilled his artistic ambitions, transforming the traumatic experiences of his life into compelling drama. O'Neill's drama provides insights into the complexities of human behavior and raises questions about the forces, both external and internal, that shape human lives.
Student Companion to Eugene O'Neill
Author: Steven F. Bloom Ph.D.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313049092
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
Eugene O'Neill is the only American dramatist ever to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He wrote over 50 plays; a number are virtually unknown by the general public; several are considered classics of the American stage; all of them demonstrate, in one way or another, how O'Neill challenged the conventional boundaries of the drama of his time and thereby paved the way for modern American theatre. This volume will provide guides to eight of O'Neill's plays that are most often studied in schools and colleges: The Hairy Ape, Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, Desire Under the Elms, Ah, Wilderness!, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. More than almost any other author in any fictional genre, O'Neill's works are highly autobiographical. The love/hate relationships he had with the members of his own family resonate throughout his dramatic works. The son of an alcoholic and a morphine addict, he struggled with chemical dependency throughout his life, but determined to be an artist or nothing, he eventually gave up drinking and fulfilled his artistic ambitions, transforming the traumatic experiences of his life into compelling drama. O'Neill's drama provides insights into the complexities of human behavior and raises questions about the forces, both external and internal, that shape human lives.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313049092
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
Eugene O'Neill is the only American dramatist ever to have received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He wrote over 50 plays; a number are virtually unknown by the general public; several are considered classics of the American stage; all of them demonstrate, in one way or another, how O'Neill challenged the conventional boundaries of the drama of his time and thereby paved the way for modern American theatre. This volume will provide guides to eight of O'Neill's plays that are most often studied in schools and colleges: The Hairy Ape, Anna Christie, The Emperor Jones, Desire Under the Elms, Ah, Wilderness!, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. More than almost any other author in any fictional genre, O'Neill's works are highly autobiographical. The love/hate relationships he had with the members of his own family resonate throughout his dramatic works. The son of an alcoholic and a morphine addict, he struggled with chemical dependency throughout his life, but determined to be an artist or nothing, he eventually gave up drinking and fulfilled his artistic ambitions, transforming the traumatic experiences of his life into compelling drama. O'Neill's drama provides insights into the complexities of human behavior and raises questions about the forces, both external and internal, that shape human lives.
Student Companion to Eugene O'Neill
Author: Steven Fredric Bloom
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN: 0313334315
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
An introduction to the life and work of Eugene O'Neill.
Publisher: Greenwood
ISBN: 0313334315
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
An introduction to the life and work of Eugene O'Neill.
Student Companion to Arthur Miller
Author: Susan C. W. Abbotson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313007314
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
This critical introduction to Arthur Miller provides an indispensable aid for students and general readers to understand the depth and complexity of some of America's most important dramatic works. Beginning with a discussion of his life, this work traces not only Miller's theatrical career, but his formulative experiences with the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Detailed discussions of eight important plays are organized around the social and moral themes Miller derived from such events; these themes are evident in such works as Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, and All My Sons. By placing Miller, within the context of his times, this discussion reveals how he was influenced by and reacted to the major events in his own life and in American culture. Analysis of his more recent works such as The American Clock, Broken Glass and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan illustrate the consistency of Miller's strong moral vision, and his continuing innovative contributions to American theatre. A fascinating biographical chapter takes readers from Miller's childhood, through the Depression years, through three marriages; and from his theatrical apprenticeship, to eventual fame and critical acclaim for his plays and other literary and cinematic projects. The literary heritage chapter outlines Miller's literary and dramatic precursors, and considers the major aspects of his dramatic impact. The six chapters discussing his major plays are systematically presented to allow the reader to easily grasp the intricacies of their plots, characterizations, stylistic devices, and themes. In addition, each chapter offers a view of the social and/or historical context that influenced the plays' thematic development, as well as an alternate critical reading that demonstrates the richness of Miller's work. Lastly, the bibliography provides information on Miller's published works, including his screenplays and essays, biographical information, selected general criticism, and both contemporary reviews and critical studies of the plays discussed.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313007314
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 184
Book Description
This critical introduction to Arthur Miller provides an indispensable aid for students and general readers to understand the depth and complexity of some of America's most important dramatic works. Beginning with a discussion of his life, this work traces not only Miller's theatrical career, but his formulative experiences with the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Detailed discussions of eight important plays are organized around the social and moral themes Miller derived from such events; these themes are evident in such works as Death of A Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, and All My Sons. By placing Miller, within the context of his times, this discussion reveals how he was influenced by and reacted to the major events in his own life and in American culture. Analysis of his more recent works such as The American Clock, Broken Glass and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan illustrate the consistency of Miller's strong moral vision, and his continuing innovative contributions to American theatre. A fascinating biographical chapter takes readers from Miller's childhood, through the Depression years, through three marriages; and from his theatrical apprenticeship, to eventual fame and critical acclaim for his plays and other literary and cinematic projects. The literary heritage chapter outlines Miller's literary and dramatic precursors, and considers the major aspects of his dramatic impact. The six chapters discussing his major plays are systematically presented to allow the reader to easily grasp the intricacies of their plots, characterizations, stylistic devices, and themes. In addition, each chapter offers a view of the social and/or historical context that influenced the plays' thematic development, as well as an alternate critical reading that demonstrates the richness of Miller's work. Lastly, the bibliography provides information on Miller's published works, including his screenplays and essays, biographical information, selected general criticism, and both contemporary reviews and critical studies of the plays discussed.
Eugene O'Neill: Complete Plays Vol. 1 1913-1920 (LOA #40)
Author: Eugene O'Neill
Publisher: Library of America
ISBN: 9780940450486
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The only American dramatist awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Eugene O’Neill wrote with poetic expressiveness, emotional intensity, and immense dramatic power. This Library of America volume (the first in a three-volume set) contains twenty-nine plays he wrote between 1913, when he began his career, and 1920, the year he first achieved Broadway success. Many of O’Neill’s early plays are one-act melodramas whose characters are caught in extreme situations. Thirst and Fog depict shipwreck survivors, The Web a young mother trapped in the New York underworld, and Abortion the aftermath of a college student’s affair with a stenographer. His first distinctive works are four one-act plays about the crew of the tramp steamer Glencairn that render sailors’ speech with masterful faithfulness. Bound East for Cardiff, In the Zone, The Long Voyage Home, and The Moon of the Caribbees portray these “children of the sea” as they watch over a dying man, sail though submarine-patrolled waters, take their shore leave in a London dive, and drink rum in a moonlit tropical anchorage. In Beyond the Horizon Robert Mayo begins a tragic chain of events by abandoning his dream of a life at sea, choosing instead to marry the woman his brother loves and remain on his family farm. The sea in “Anna Christie” is both “dat ole devil” to coal barge captain Chris Christopherson and a source of spiritual cleansing to his daughter Anna, an embittered prostitute. When a swaggering stoker falls in love with her, Anna becomes the apex of a three-sided struggle full of enraged pride, grim foreboding, and stubborn hope. Both of these plays won the Pulitzer Prize and helped establish O’Neill as a successful Broadway playwright. The Emperor Jones depicts the nightmarish journey through a West Indian forest of Brutus Jones, a former Pullman porter turned island ruler. Fleeing his rebellious subjects, Jones confronts his violent deeds and the tortured history of his race in a series of hallucinatory episodes whose expressionist quality anticipates many of O’Neill’s later plays. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Publisher: Library of America
ISBN: 9780940450486
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The only American dramatist awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, Eugene O’Neill wrote with poetic expressiveness, emotional intensity, and immense dramatic power. This Library of America volume (the first in a three-volume set) contains twenty-nine plays he wrote between 1913, when he began his career, and 1920, the year he first achieved Broadway success. Many of O’Neill’s early plays are one-act melodramas whose characters are caught in extreme situations. Thirst and Fog depict shipwreck survivors, The Web a young mother trapped in the New York underworld, and Abortion the aftermath of a college student’s affair with a stenographer. His first distinctive works are four one-act plays about the crew of the tramp steamer Glencairn that render sailors’ speech with masterful faithfulness. Bound East for Cardiff, In the Zone, The Long Voyage Home, and The Moon of the Caribbees portray these “children of the sea” as they watch over a dying man, sail though submarine-patrolled waters, take their shore leave in a London dive, and drink rum in a moonlit tropical anchorage. In Beyond the Horizon Robert Mayo begins a tragic chain of events by abandoning his dream of a life at sea, choosing instead to marry the woman his brother loves and remain on his family farm. The sea in “Anna Christie” is both “dat ole devil” to coal barge captain Chris Christopherson and a source of spiritual cleansing to his daughter Anna, an embittered prostitute. When a swaggering stoker falls in love with her, Anna becomes the apex of a three-sided struggle full of enraged pride, grim foreboding, and stubborn hope. Both of these plays won the Pulitzer Prize and helped establish O’Neill as a successful Broadway playwright. The Emperor Jones depicts the nightmarish journey through a West Indian forest of Brutus Jones, a former Pullman porter turned island ruler. Fleeing his rebellious subjects, Jones confronts his violent deeds and the tortured history of his race in a series of hallucinatory episodes whose expressionist quality anticipates many of O’Neill’s later plays. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Eugene O'Neill's Philosophy of Difficult Theatre
Author: Jeremy Killian
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780367519209
Category : Tragedy
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"Eugene O'Neill often characterized himself as a psychologist, asserting that "authors were psychologists...and profound ones, before psychology was invented." Though many of O'Neill's plays do reflect insights derived from early psychoanalytic method, contemporary students of psychology might bristle at O'Neil's characterization of his capacity to observe and describe the human condition. It might be better to characterize the so-called Father of American Tragedy as a kind of arm-chair philosopher, and this book attempts such a task. Through a close re- examination of Eugene O'Neill's oeuvre, from minor plays to his Pulitzer-winning works, this study proposes that O'Neill's philosophy of tragedy, though derivative of the larger Western approach to dramatic art, offers a unique account of why tragedy matters in today's world. In addition to offering a new paradigm through which to interpret O'Neill's work, this book argues that O'Neill's theory of tragedy is a robust description of the value of difficult theatre, with more explanatory scope and power than its historical counterparts. This volume enters the discussion of tragic value by way of the plays of Eugene O'Neill, and through this study, Killian makes the case that O'Neill refused to allow Plato to define the terms of tragedy's merit, as most Western theorists have. He argues that O'Neill's theory of tragedy is non-cognitive and locates the value of a play not in what we learn from it, but rather in its ability to make us feel emotions that are difficult to come by in everyday experience. This book is significant for students and scholars of performance studies, literature, and philosophy"--
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780367519209
Category : Tragedy
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
"Eugene O'Neill often characterized himself as a psychologist, asserting that "authors were psychologists...and profound ones, before psychology was invented." Though many of O'Neill's plays do reflect insights derived from early psychoanalytic method, contemporary students of psychology might bristle at O'Neil's characterization of his capacity to observe and describe the human condition. It might be better to characterize the so-called Father of American Tragedy as a kind of arm-chair philosopher, and this book attempts such a task. Through a close re- examination of Eugene O'Neill's oeuvre, from minor plays to his Pulitzer-winning works, this study proposes that O'Neill's philosophy of tragedy, though derivative of the larger Western approach to dramatic art, offers a unique account of why tragedy matters in today's world. In addition to offering a new paradigm through which to interpret O'Neill's work, this book argues that O'Neill's theory of tragedy is a robust description of the value of difficult theatre, with more explanatory scope and power than its historical counterparts. This volume enters the discussion of tragic value by way of the plays of Eugene O'Neill, and through this study, Killian makes the case that O'Neill refused to allow Plato to define the terms of tragedy's merit, as most Western theorists have. He argues that O'Neill's theory of tragedy is non-cognitive and locates the value of a play not in what we learn from it, but rather in its ability to make us feel emotions that are difficult to come by in everyday experience. This book is significant for students and scholars of performance studies, literature, and philosophy"--
The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of New York
Author: Cyrus R. K. Patell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521514711
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
A portrait of the diverse literary cultures of New York from its beginnings as a Dutch colony to the present.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521514711
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 283
Book Description
A portrait of the diverse literary cultures of New York from its beginnings as a Dutch colony to the present.
The Theatre of Eugene O’Neill
Author: Kurt Eisen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474238424
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
Named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year 2018 The Theatre of Eugene O'Neill offers a new comprehensive overview of O'Neill's career and plays in the context of the American theatre. Organised thematically, it considers his modernist intervention in the theatre, offers readers detailed analysis of the plays, and assesses the recent resurgence in his reputation and new approaches to staging his work. It includes a study of all his major plays-The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, A Moon for the Misbegotten and Desire Under the Elms-besides numerous other full length and one act dramas. Eugene O'Neill is generally credited with inventing modern American drama, in a time of cultural ferment and lively artistic and intellectual change. Yet O'Neill's theatrical instincts were always shaped by American stage traditions that were inextricable from his sense of himself and his own national culture. This study shows that his theatrical modernism represents not so much a break from these traditions as a reinvention of their scope and significance in the context of international stage modernism, offering an image of national culture and character that opens new possibilities for the stage while remaining rooted in its past. Kurt Eisen traces O'Neill's modernism throughout the dramatists's work: his attempts to break from the themes, plots, and moral conventions of the traditional melodramatic theatre; his experiments in stagecraft and theme, and their connection to traditional theatre and his European modernist contemporaries; the turn toward direct and indirect self-representation; and his critique of the family and of American 'pipe dreams' and the allure of success. The volume additionally features four contributed essays providing further critical perspectives on O'Neill's work, alongside a chronology of the writer's life and times.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474238424
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
Named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year 2018 The Theatre of Eugene O'Neill offers a new comprehensive overview of O'Neill's career and plays in the context of the American theatre. Organised thematically, it considers his modernist intervention in the theatre, offers readers detailed analysis of the plays, and assesses the recent resurgence in his reputation and new approaches to staging his work. It includes a study of all his major plays-The Emperor Jones, The Hairy Ape, The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, A Moon for the Misbegotten and Desire Under the Elms-besides numerous other full length and one act dramas. Eugene O'Neill is generally credited with inventing modern American drama, in a time of cultural ferment and lively artistic and intellectual change. Yet O'Neill's theatrical instincts were always shaped by American stage traditions that were inextricable from his sense of himself and his own national culture. This study shows that his theatrical modernism represents not so much a break from these traditions as a reinvention of their scope and significance in the context of international stage modernism, offering an image of national culture and character that opens new possibilities for the stage while remaining rooted in its past. Kurt Eisen traces O'Neill's modernism throughout the dramatists's work: his attempts to break from the themes, plots, and moral conventions of the traditional melodramatic theatre; his experiments in stagecraft and theme, and their connection to traditional theatre and his European modernist contemporaries; the turn toward direct and indirect self-representation; and his critique of the family and of American 'pipe dreams' and the allure of success. The volume additionally features four contributed essays providing further critical perspectives on O'Neill's work, alongside a chronology of the writer's life and times.
Eugene O'Neill and His Early Contemporaries
Author: Eileen J. Herrmann
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786445578
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Eugene O'Neill was one of the great American playwrights of the twentieth century. Spanning the years 1910-1930, the 14 essays in this volume address the milieu he knew best--his friends in bohemian Greenwich Village, Provincetown, on waterfronts around the globe, and in the other beloved communities that comprised his early circle. At a time when O'Neill's creative powers were in their infancy, these influences formed the backdrop of his creative development and, consequently, demand more intensive study than they have received to date. This collection also highlights the larger modernist period and its impact on the First World War, the Little Theater Movement, the Abbey Players of Dublin, philosophical anarchism, and other contemporary upheavals that permeate his drama. Interspersed with rare period photos and illustrations, this volume contextualizes O'Neill's plays in the tumult of his historical and cultural moment, offering scholars a fresh approach to his life and art.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 9780786445578
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Eugene O'Neill was one of the great American playwrights of the twentieth century. Spanning the years 1910-1930, the 14 essays in this volume address the milieu he knew best--his friends in bohemian Greenwich Village, Provincetown, on waterfronts around the globe, and in the other beloved communities that comprised his early circle. At a time when O'Neill's creative powers were in their infancy, these influences formed the backdrop of his creative development and, consequently, demand more intensive study than they have received to date. This collection also highlights the larger modernist period and its impact on the First World War, the Little Theater Movement, the Abbey Players of Dublin, philosophical anarchism, and other contemporary upheavals that permeate his drama. Interspersed with rare period photos and illustrations, this volume contextualizes O'Neill's plays in the tumult of his historical and cultural moment, offering scholars a fresh approach to his life and art.
Student Companion to William Faulkner
Author: John Dennis Anderson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313088241
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 158
Book Description
One of America's greatest writers, William Faulkner wrote fiction that combined spellbinding Southern storytelling with modernist formal experimentation to shape an enduring body of work. In his fictional Yoknapatawpha County—based on the region around his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi—he created an entire world peopled with unforgettable characters linked into an intricate historical and social web. An introduction to the Nobel-Prize-winning author's life and work, this book devotes opening chapters to his biography and literary heritage and subsequent chapters to each of his major works. The analytical chapters start with his most accessible book, The Unvanquished, a Civil-War-era account of a boy's coming of age. The following chapters orient readers to elements of plot, character, and theme in Faulkner's masterpieces: The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! Also analyzed and discussed are some of Faulkner's most often anthologized short stories, including A Rose For Emily and Barn Burning, and the longer stories The Bear, Spotted Horses, and The Old Man that were incorporated in the novels Go Down, Moses, The Hamlet, and If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. Clear, insightful analyses of the elements of Faulkner's fiction are supplemented with alternative readings from a variety of critical approaches including gender, rhetorical, performance, and cultural studies perspectives.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313088241
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 158
Book Description
One of America's greatest writers, William Faulkner wrote fiction that combined spellbinding Southern storytelling with modernist formal experimentation to shape an enduring body of work. In his fictional Yoknapatawpha County—based on the region around his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi—he created an entire world peopled with unforgettable characters linked into an intricate historical and social web. An introduction to the Nobel-Prize-winning author's life and work, this book devotes opening chapters to his biography and literary heritage and subsequent chapters to each of his major works. The analytical chapters start with his most accessible book, The Unvanquished, a Civil-War-era account of a boy's coming of age. The following chapters orient readers to elements of plot, character, and theme in Faulkner's masterpieces: The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, and Absalom, Absalom! Also analyzed and discussed are some of Faulkner's most often anthologized short stories, including A Rose For Emily and Barn Burning, and the longer stories The Bear, Spotted Horses, and The Old Man that were incorporated in the novels Go Down, Moses, The Hamlet, and If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. Clear, insightful analyses of the elements of Faulkner's fiction are supplemented with alternative readings from a variety of critical approaches including gender, rhetorical, performance, and cultural studies perspectives.
Ah! Wilderness
Author: Eugene O'Neill
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9781854591371
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 134
Book Description
An affectionate and witty comedy of recollection from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers. This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9781854591371
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 134
Book Description
An affectionate and witty comedy of recollection from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers. This edition includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.