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the last phase of O'Neill's creative life
In comparing the "facts of the plays with the documentary evidence of the historical record, [this work] offers what is really a first study in biography based on knowledge of what in a work are the fact's of [O'Neill's] life and what are not." As psychologically incisive and true-to-life as O'Neill's last plays were, with their richly-drawn, identifiable, flawed, characters, they were particularly susceptible to biographical interpretations and such points of view by critics and even scholars. Among the mixed biographical and literary topics concerning this major American playwright Alexander brings clarity to from poring over material lately uncovered and rereadings of some known material are O'Neill's suicide attempt, his illness of tuberculosis, and his relationship with his parents. Alexander, professor emerita of English at CUNY, gives only passing conjecture on why such "myths" arose in the first place or persisted on the basis of nonexistent, scant, or clearly contradictory evidence. The reasons for such errors or misguided interpretations of O'Neill's late plays--no doubt growing out of an awe and mystique surrounding O'Neill as a deeply impressive, preternaturally gifted playwright--is an absorbing topic on its own--but beyond the interest or scope of Alexander here. The author focuses on how such errors came to be, and on clearing them up. In this, she brings much clarity, and sometimes definitiveness, to mistakenly held views and some outright fictions of both O'Neill's life and his late plays, all without lowering this playwright's stature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Two many editions?
This Signet Classics edition's plays are also available in a much cheaper paperback, with an appendix instead of a preface.Actually, both have their values; the commentaries are worthwhile, and the pagination of the two editions is identical ( that's the teacher in me giving the students their assignments ...at a price).However, for the extra bucks, the vintage video of Paul Robeson doing Emperor Jones is a treasured investment.Teachers, buy this one! Students, be good education consumers and get the text-only version ! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

O'Neill's earliest plays (1913-1915)
This inexpensive paperback reprints nine one-act plays and one full-length play, combining material that had appeared previously in two volumes:

1) "Thirst and Other One-Act Plays" (1914), containing "The Web," "Thirst," "Recklessness," "Warnings," and "Fog"--none of which were ever truly "lost."

2) "Lost Plays of Eugene O'Neill" (1950), including "A Wife for a Life," "The Movie Man," "Abortion," "The Sniper," and "Servitude"--all of which O'Neill thought had been destroyed but which were subsequently found in the Library of Congress's Copyright Office and edited by Lawrence Gellert, whose introduction is also included in this paperback.

As dramatic pieces, these plays (written between 1913 and 1915) range in quality, from daring to interesting to downright embarrassing; only "Thirst", "Fog," and "The Sniper" were performed during O'Neill's lifetime and none are likely to grace a stage today. Nevertheless, they are fascinating for scholars and writers who might be interested in watching a young, hesitant ingenue transform into an experienced, bold playwright.

A few of the plays stand out. "Warnings" examines the events that lead to a shipwreck, while "Thirst" and "Fog" both depict shipwreck survivors struggling to stay alive in the sea; all three prefigure O'Neill's later series of plays featuring sailors. Although unbearably melodramatic,"The Web" shows O"Neill attempting to write in street dialect for the first time. "Abortion" is a rather scandalous (for its time) and unexpectedly moving depiction of the aftermath of an unwanted pregnancy.

In the volume's one full-length play, "Servitude," O'Neill experiments with dramatic structure, opening with a climactic and shocking scene--what proves to be a preview of the finale. While deeply flawed, the play turns out to be a comedy at heart, exhibiting the satirical dialogue and mature witticisms that were to make him the only American dramatist to win a Nobel Prize.

Ten strong though little-known short plays
The ten plays in this collection (A Wife for a Life, Thirst, The Web, Warnings, Fog, Recklessness, Abortion, The Movie Man, Servitude, and The Sniper) were all written in the very earliest part of O'Neill's career, from 1913 to 1915, and were (and still are) all overshadowed by the numerous masterpieces O'Neill wrote beginning in 1920 with Beyond the Horizon.In the years before he began writing, O'Neill spent a great deal of time at sea, attempted suicide, and then came down with tuberculosis and spent six months at a sanatarium, where he discovered the works of Strindberg and others and decided to become a playwright.This is all reflected heavily in these plays: one of them deals with a consumptive character, three are set at sea, and a number of them end in suicides.Also, two of them deal with marital infidelity among the wealthy, a topic that I don't think O'Neill ever returns to in his later works but which was a favorite subject of O'Neill's idol Strindberg (in particular, Recklessness relates the affair between a married woman and her servant, which should sound familiar to readers of "Miss Julie.").

All of the plays except the three-act work Servitude are only one act and under thirty pages long.Presumably, O'Neill felt a lot more comfortable at this point in his career sticking to short treatments of matters that were close to him, and this appears to have been a good idea.Pretty much all of the plays in this collection show definite signs of the powerful tragedy for which O'Neill is known, and, considering how short they are, many of them are quite moving and haunting.While O'Neill had not yet reached his full maturity at this stage, he definitely was well-enough prepared to write very good one-act plays.His later, longer and more demanding works are very justifiably more famous than these ones, but if you enjoy O'Neill's better-known plays, his earliest works provide a very good view of the development of his style and talents, and you will probably enjoy them as well. ... Read more

Book Description
"...essential to any understanding of...O'Neill if only because they demystify him." -Arthur Miller, The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Contact for Barbara VOGLINO
Please. I am searching for a contact with Barbara VOGLINO; she has my same surname.I like to receive some help to contact her about our families.Any help would be appreciated. Excuse me for avoiding a review on her book.Thanks for your patience. ... Read more

Book Description
Proverbial language figures prominently in the works of Eugene O'Neill (1883-1953), the recipient of four Pulitzer prizes and a Nobel laureateship for literature. This book is a directory to the proverbs, proverbial expressions, and proverbial comparisons in O'Neill's 50 dramas and numerous letters, articles, diaries, and notebooks. Very little attention has been given to any aspect of O'Neill's language, to say nothing of the virtual disregard of him as a wielder of proverbial diction. This collection of 2,059 examples of O'Neill's proverbial usage is a first step towards remedying that situation and provides a foundation for future scholarship. The introduction shows how O'Neill used proverbs as a structural element of his dramas and places his proverbial usage in the context of international proverb scholarship, offers examples and generalizations about his manipulation of proverbs, and suggests fruitful areas of further investigation. The heart of the book is a key-word index to the proverbial texts that identifies the locations of the proverbial examples in the canon of O'Neill's works and facilitates comparisons of similar locutions. Each proverbial construction is dated so that the reader can immediately see the chronological range of the texts. For those interested in the history of particular proverbs, citations of standard proverb dictionaries are appended to most of the texts. Two appendices show the frequency with which proverbs appear and their distribution among the various dramas. ... Read more

Book Description
'Narcissism, the Family, and Madness' applies the constructs of psychoanalytic self psychology--with a focus on narcissistic fantasies--to the life and works of Eugene O'Neill. The self psychological analysis of O'Neill's plays enables us to see how narcissism and violence are intertwined in dysfunctional families. In many of the plays, violence and madness erupt when characters lose the important emotional experience of having a sense of belonging to a home and family. Another theme explored in the book is how family dynamics of a destructive nature contribute to individuals becoming chemically addicted. In short, the book addresses the important contemporary issues of dysfunctional families, violence, madness, and addictions and shows how these themes derive from O'Neill's experiences growing up within an addicted family. ... Read more

Book Description
The perfect gift for every dog owner.In the early 1940s, famed playwright Eugene O'Neill wrote a moving piece of prose about his dog, Silverdene Emblem O'Neill (Blemie). In The Last Will and Testament of an Extremely Distinguished Dog, O'Neill eloquently and compassionately articulates what all dog owners feel as their pet nears the of its life. O'Neill's elegy has been lovingly restored to print and is beautifully illustrated by the award-winning quilt maker Adrienne Yorinks. Yorinks complements the text using twenty-five machine-pieced and hand-stitched quilts with color photographic transfers of dogs. The Last Will says everything that needs to be said to someone you love who is losing or has lost a beloved canine friend. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Wonderful book to read with the death of a beloved dog
My husband found this book and bought it for the time when our beloved dog passes on.A friend's dog passed on a month ago and I gave her our book.We read sections of it when 8 of us gathered to comfort our friend.The words brought tears to our eyes and helped us honor the memory of her small companion.We repurchased the book to help us get through our grief when the time comes.Definitely recommended to anyone with a beloved dog.

Gift for the mourning owner
I, unfortunately, have bought this book about 12 times.I buy this as a gift whenever someone close loses a dog from their family.Anyone who has lost a canine member of the family can use this book, it becomes personal to anyone.

a good gift
i think this is an excelint gift for someone who has lost a loved dog.

Eloquently comforting...
...as only a master of literature can do. This is a beautifully told tale, one which I have shared with friends who have lost their best four-legged friends. O'Neill captures the depth of feeling these creatures share with us for too short a time...
A wonderfully positive, uplifting book for anyone dealing with the loss of a beloved pet.
A treasure.

comfort
I have sent this little book to dear friends who have recently suffered the loss of a canine family member.They have told me that this little book has brought them tremendous comfort at a very difficult time. ... Read more

Book Description
Eugene O'Neill wrote his plays for a theatre in which the playwright would take a central position. He presented himself as a controlling personality both in the texts—in the form of ample stage directions—and in performances based on these texts. His plays address several audiences-reader, spectator, and production team-and scripts were often different from the published versions. This study examines O'Neill's multiple roles as a writer for many audiences.

After a description of O'Neill's working conditions and the multiple audiences of the plays, this study examines the various formal aspects of the plays: titles, settings in time and place, names and addresses, language, and connections and allusions to other works. An examination of the plays follows, with particular emphasis on Bound East for Cardiff, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Touch of the Poet. ... Read more

Book Description
From 1935 to 1939 Eugene O`Neill devoted nearly all of his creative energy to a vast cycle of plays tracing several generations of an American family. Based on O`Neill`s extensive unpublished notes, drafts, plot summaries and other materials, this book tells for the first time the complicated story of the cycle project--what the playwright intended to do, how he went about it, and why in the end he failed.

Henry McBride Series in Modernism and Modernity

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Book Description
In Performing O'Neill, Yvonne Shafer talks with the most important actors and directors who interpreted O'Neill in the 20th century: Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Fritz Weaver, James Earle Jones, Theresa Wright, Gloria Foster, Ted Mann, and Arvin Brown, to name just a few. Actors like Robards talk about their first encounters with the master and their interpretations of roles like Hickey in "The Iceman Cometh" and James Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Directors talk about the challenges they face in bringing O'Neill's dark and compelling vision of American life to the stage and making it relevant for audiences in the 21st century. The work is a lively collection of interviews in the Paris Review tradition constructed by one of the foremost O'Neill scholars writing today. ... Read more

Product Description
A Moon for the Misbegotten is one of Eugene O'Neill's most frequently revived works, and major American revivals of the play have been instrumental in securing its esteemed position in theater history. While the play's landmark production in 1973 is largely regarded as the moment when it finally achieved greatness, its 60-year production history also includes several regional productions and Broadway revivals.

This work provides a complete production history of A Moon for the Misbegotten in the United States, from the play's original Theatre Guild production in 1947 to its Broadway revival in 2007. Throughout the study, the author provides the inside story on the play's often rocky transition from the page to the stage, including detailed looks at initial casting difficulties and several controversies over censorship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book!
This book helps you dive into Eugene O'Neill's work and life, letting you inside him while he wrote his plays.A must have for any serious O'Neill fan. ... Read more