Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Celebrant of loss: Eugene O'Neill 1888-1953
- 2 O'Neill's philosophical and literary paragons
- 3 O'Neill and the theatre of his time
- 4 From trial to triumph: the early plays
- 5 The middle plays
- 6 The late plays
- 7 Notable American stage productions
- 8 O'Neill on screen
- 9 O'Neill's America: the strange interlude between the wars
- 10 O'Neill's African and Irish-Americans: stereotypes or “faithful realism”?
- 11 O'Neill's female characters
- 12 "A tale of possessors self-dispossessed"
- 13 Trying to write the family play: autobiography and the dramatic imagination
- 14 The stature of Long Day's Journey Into Night
- 15 O'Neill and the cult of sincerity
- 16 O'Neill criticism
- Select bibliography of full-length works
- Index
3 - O'Neill and the theatre of his time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- 1 Celebrant of loss: Eugene O'Neill 1888-1953
- 2 O'Neill's philosophical and literary paragons
- 3 O'Neill and the theatre of his time
- 4 From trial to triumph: the early plays
- 5 The middle plays
- 6 The late plays
- 7 Notable American stage productions
- 8 O'Neill on screen
- 9 O'Neill's America: the strange interlude between the wars
- 10 O'Neill's African and Irish-Americans: stereotypes or “faithful realism”?
- 11 O'Neill's female characters
- 12 "A tale of possessors self-dispossessed"
- 13 Trying to write the family play: autobiography and the dramatic imagination
- 14 The stature of Long Day's Journey Into Night
- 15 O'Neill and the cult of sincerity
- 16 O'Neill criticism
- Select bibliography of full-length works
- Index
Summary
From the end of World War I to the onset of the Great Depression marked the most dynamic period in the history of the American stage. Over the course of this era, the theatre experienced unprecedented growth. Expansion, stimulated by mounting economic prosperity and a burgeoning urban, middle-class population, resulted in an increased demand for theatrical entertainment. Demand sparked competition and an openness to invention and change, forcing the theatrical establishment to vie with new emerging talents and innovative approaches for audiences and critical attention. O'Neill's career, which began on the cusp of this theatrical Renaissance, was impacted by theatre's expansionist tendencies and the prevailing tensions between the forces of tradition and those of change. A survey of the existing conditions and innovative trends manifest in this milieu illuminates O'Neill's artistic and commercial success in the theatre of his time.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Eugene O'Neill , pp. 33 - 50Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998
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