Young Playwrights, Awake and Sing! | Eugene O'Neill : Complete Plays 1913-1920 (Library of America) |...

book: Eugene O'Neill : Complete Plays 1913-1920 (Library of America) | Eugene O'Neill

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	• Eugene O'Neill : Complete Plays 1913-1920 (Library of America) Eugene O'Neill Library of America, 1988 - 1104 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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The development of a writer

This is a tremendous source work, providing a sequential study of O'Neill's development as a dramatist. While not all of the plays are particularly successful, they reveal themes and settings that would provide the foundation for the later O'Neill masterworks. And there are many wonderful early dramas, such as the four S.S. Glencairn plays, his first broadway success "Beyond the Horizon," and the daring "Anna Christie," all of which tested and expanded the dramatic form in America. A wonderful collection!

Young Playwrights, Awake and Sing!

It isn't clear who would be apt to read this volume of early plays by O'Neill. These days, drama departments seem to assign new plays by unknown playwrights, as though the professors were in the pay of the publishers. Why order books by dead writers? These plays, however, are much more useful, I should think, for the aspiring playwright because they are exercises of a young dramatic master in his early stage of apprenticeship. He is learning his craft and writing his way to mastery. They are marvelous models of an immature writer. They are not perfect specimens, not intimidating masterworks, but slight, flawed works that any playwright might feel inspired by. They are awkward, rough, even stale, but each seeks to perform a dramatic task. O'Neill was very conscious of what he sought to do. These are not entertainments. Read them, learn from them, learn not to write this badly, and you'll be on your way.

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