Presentation Transcript
Eugene O’Neill :Fall 2009, English 12LAW David Vega, MA English Eugene O’Neill Nobel Prize for Literature
1936
Family - Parents :Family - Parents Father = James O’Neill
Famous touring actor - The Count of Monte Cristo
Strict Catholic
Mother = Ella O’Neill
Followed husband around country
Pious mystic
Drug addict
Family - Brother :Family - Brother Brother - James O’Neill
Dies of alcoholism in adulthood
Birth and Youth :Birth and Youth Born in hotel
Spent early childhood in hotel rooms, trains and backstage
Hated difficult touring life
Educational Life Experiences :Educational Life Experiences Boarding schools
Summers spent in New London, Connecticut
Princeton University - 1 yr (dropped out)
6 years at sea (his “real” education)
Seaports: Buenos Aires, Liverpool, New York City
Became alcoholic
Attempted suicide at 24
Works as reporter and poet
Contracts tuberculosis
Finally experiences “rebirth” - quits drinking
Relationships :Relationships 3 wives (2 divorces)
Elder son (w/1st wife) commits suicide at age 40
Younger son (w/2nd wife) becomes emotionally unstable
Only daughter (w/2nd wife) becomes estranged when she marries Charlie Chaplin at age 18
O’Neill disowns her.
Controversial Plays :Controversial Plays Prostitutes
Derelicts
Lonely sailors
God’s injustice to man
Literary Influences :Literary Influences Greek tragedy and themes
Infanticide
Incest
Fateful retribution
Psychology
Personal unconscious (Freud)
Collective Unconscious (Jung)
Art
German Expressionism
Pulitzer Prizes :Pulitzer Prizes Anna Christie
Strange Interlude
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Beyond the Horizon
Nobel Prize for Literature (1936) :Nobel Prize for Literature (1936) 1st and only American playwright to win
Considered “Father of American Drama”
1st American dramatist to consider the stage as a literary medium.