Eugene O'Neill was a leading American playwright best known for plays Long Day's Journey into Night, published after his death, and The Iceman Cometh. His plays are famous for realism and for depressing stories of people with no hope of controlling their destinies. His other works include Strange Interlude and Desire Under the Elms. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936, and four Pulitzer Prizes.
Early Life of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888, in New York City, the son of an actor. His early childhood was spent touring with his father. He was educated at a Catholic boarding school in Connecticut and spent a year at Princeton University before he left home to travel.
His initial influence was his actor father. Eugene O'Neill was a man prone to depression, and he spent much of his youth drifting from job to job and living in poverty. His experiences during this period, particularly his time spent at sea, form the basis for much of his later work.
Returning to America in 1912, he was admitted to a hospital, suffering from tuberculosis. He survived his journalism, just as he survived tuberculosis. During this period of rest he also started writing.
The Passionate Dramatist
When he was 25, O'Neill his first play, The Web. Few years later, he became recognized as a serious playwright, winning his first Pulitzer Prize for Beyond the Horizon.
His trilogy Morning Becomes Electra uses Aeschylus's Oresteia, but he dispenses with gods and a chorus giving a more realistic view of guilt in his drama. Setting is right after the American Civil War.
He went on to win three more Pulitzers: one in 1922 for Anna Christie; another in 1928 for Strange Interlude; and the last was awarded in 1957, after he died, for Long Day's Journey into Night.
O'Neill plays often deal with characters looking for a meaning to life. His most famous work, The Iceman Cometh, performed when he was 58, is set in a dockside bar where characters discuss their hopeless lives.
O'Neill Leading Playwright of America
Eugene O'Neill is regarded as the first great name in American Theatre. A versatile playwright, he can provide a Freudian view of human relationships, as well as create a reflective Shakespearian stage drama. Aside from his four Pulitzer Prizes, O'Neill also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. He died on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65.
O'Neill's plays were regularly shown on Broadway, although he did not allow them to be performed between 1934 and 1946. His work draws on expression from his own experiences to make his points, often psychological.
Works by Eugene O'Neill
- The Web, 1934
- Beyond the Horizon, 1920
- The Emperor Jones, 1920
- Anna Christie, 1921
- The Hairy Ape, 1922
- Desire Under the Elms, 1924
- Lazarus Laughed, 1926
- Strange Interlude, 1928
- Mourning Becomes Electra, 1931
- The Iceman Cometh, 1946
- Long Day's Journey into Night, 1956
Sources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002.
Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
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