Long Day's Journey Into Night (Jonathan Cape Paperback, 46) - Softcover

O'Neill, Eugene

  • 4.06 out of 5 stars
    42,795 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780224610735: Long Day's Journey Into Night (Jonathan Cape Paperback, 46)

Synopsis

Long Day's Journey into Night was written in 1940 but not staged until 1956, after O'Neill's death. Unashamedly autobiographical, it is, as he puts it himself in the dedicatory note, 'a play of old sorrow, written in tears and blood', a harrowing attempt to understand himself and his family.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review

This work is interesting enough for its history. Completed in 1940, Long Day's Journey Into Night is an autobiographical play Eugene O'Neill wrote that--because of the highly personal writing about his family--was not to be released until 25 years after his death, which occurred in 1953. But since O'Neill's immediate family had died in the early 1920s, his wife allowed publication of the play in 1956. Besides the history alone, the play is fascinating in its own right. It tells of the "Tyrones"--a fictional name for what is clearly the O'Neills. Theirs is not a happy tale: The youngest son (Edmond) is sent to a sanitarium to recover from tuberculosis; he despises his father for sending him; his mother is wrecked by narcotics; and his older brother by drink. In real-life these factors conspired to turn O'Neill into who he was--a tormented individual and a brilliant playwright.

About the Author

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) was one of the most significant playwrights America has ever produced. His other plays include The Hairy Ape, The Emperor Jones, A Moon For the Misbegotten, and The Iceman Cometh. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title