The Cambridge Companion to Eugene O'Neill

Specially commissioned essays explore the life and work of Eugene O'Neill from his earliest writings to Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Michael Manheim (Edited by)

9780521553896, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 September 1998

276 pages, 6 b/w illus.
23.7 x 15.7 x 2.3 cm, 0.545 kg

"Manheim (Univ. of Toledo) provides an excellent overview of O'Neill's plays and adds to the great volume of critical analysis of the playwright's work." Choice

This is a volume of specially commissioned essays containing studies of Eugene O'Neill's life, his intellectual and creative forebears, and his relation to the theatrical world of his creative period, 1916–42. Also included are descriptions of the O'Neill canon and its production history on stage and screen, and a series of essays on 'special topics' related to the playwright, such as his treatment of women in the plays, his portrayals of Irish and African Americans, and his attempts to deal in dramatic terms with his parental family culminating in his greatest play, Long Day's Journey Into Night. One of the essays speaks for those who are critical of O'Neill's work, and the volume concludes with an essay on O'Neill criticism containing a select bibliography of full-length studies of the playwright's work.

List of illustrations
Notes on contributors
Chronology
List of plays and poems
Introduction Michael Manheim
1. 'Celebrant of loss': Eugene O'Neill 1888–1953 Stephan A. Black
2. O'Neill's philosophical and literary paragons Egil Törnqvist
3. O'Neill and the theatre of his time Daniel J. Watermeier
4. From trial to triumph: the early plays Margaret Loftus Ranald
5. The middle plays James A. Robinson
6. The late plays Normand Berlin
7. Notable American stage productions Ronald Wainscott
8. O'Neill on screen Kurt Eisen
9. O'Neill's America: the strange interlude between the wars Brenda Murphy
10. O'Neill's African and Irish-Americans: stereotypes or 'faithful realism'? Edward L. Shaugnessy
11. O'Neill's female characters Judith E. Barlow
12. 'A tale of possessors self-disposessed' Donald Gallup
13. Trying to write the family play: autobiography and the dramatic imagination Jean Chothia
14. The stature of Long Day's Journey Into Night Michael Manheim
15. O'Neill and the cult of sincerity Matthew H. Wikander
16. O'Neill criticism Michael Manheim
Select bibliography of full-length works
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Theatre studies [AN]