O'Neill, Eugene. (1888 - 1953).

L i f e

- his father was an extremely successful actor, his mother a morphine addict, and his older brother James an alcoholic

- despised the popular theatre represented by his father, decided to transform the American stage and to create a new dramatic style

W o r k

- the nation’s first major playwright, the first to experiment, and the only dramatist ever to win the Nobel Prize (1936)

- produced a drama of voice and atmosphere rather than plot

- an excellent ear for the natural vernacular dialogue

- ignored the divisions of scenes, acts, and the expected length;

- re-introduced ghosts, choruses, and the Shakespearean monologue

- split one character between two actors, used direct address to the audience, light and sound effects, etc.

Beyond the Horizon (1920):

- his first  full-length play, won him his first Pulitzer Prize

Anna Christie (1921):

- a step backward in technique, but won him his second Pulitzer Prize

Desire Under the Elms (1924):

- concerned with family conflicts and desires

Strange Interlude (1928):

- a 9-act play, won him his third Pulitzer Prize

- introduces the ‘interior dialogue’: actors speak seemingly to one another x but: actually think aloud for themselves in a stream of consciousness

- concerned with the inner life of a beautiful woman

Mourning Becomes Electra (1931):

- his most ambitious 9-hour long play, based on Sophocles's drama

- the passions of an old New England family at the end of the Civil War

Ah, Wilderness! (1933):

- autobiographical, his only comedy, centered on himself

A Moon for the Misbegotten (1947, posthumously):

- autobiographical, centred on his alcoholic brother James junior

Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956, posthumously):

- centred on all the four Tyrones (the fictional name for the O'Neills) x but: especially on his drug-addicted mother

- an intense 4 and a half hour long play of unabating raw emotions, haunted characters, and the ghosts dwelling within their psyches

- a series of encounters between the characters: each character placed together with another until every combination is worked through

- the title: ‘day’ = a literal day in the lives of the Tyrones, ‘journey’ = their journey through life toward death

A Touch of the Poet (1958, posthumously):

- autobiographical, centred on his father James senior