A leading African American intellectual, Eugene Kinckle Jones (1885–1954) was instrumental in professionalizing black social work in America. Jones used his position was executive secretary of the National Urban League to work with social reformers advocating on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination. He also led the Urban League's efforts at campaigning for equal hiring practices and the inclusion of black workers in labor unions, and promoted the importance of vocational training and social work. Drawing on interviews with Jones's colleagues and associates, as well as recently opened family and Urban League archives, Felix L. Armfield blends biography with an in-depth discussion of the roles of black institutions and organizations. The result is a work that offers new details on the growth of African American communities, the evolution of African American life, and the role of black social workers in the years before the civil rights era.
Eugene England championed an optimistic Mormon faith open to liberalizing ideas from American culture. At the same time, he remained devoted to a conservative Mormonism that he saw as a vehicle for progress even as it narrowed the range of acceptable belief. Kristine L. Haglund views England's writing through the tensions produced by his often-opposed intellectual and spiritual commitments. Though labeled a liberal, England had a traditional Latter-day Saint background and always sought to address fundamental questions in Mormon terms. His intellectually adventurous essays sometimes put him at odds with Church authorities and fellow believers. But he also influenced a generation of thinkers and cofounded Dialogue, a Mormon academic and literary journal acclaimed for the broad range of its thought. A fascinating portrait of a Mormon intellectual and his times, Eugene England reveals a believing scholar who emerged from the lived experiences of his faith to engage with the changes roiling Mormonism in the twentieth century.
In Eugene O'Neill's Creative Struggle, Doris Alexander gives us a new kind of inside biography that begins where the others leave off. It follows O'Neill through the door into his writing room to give a blow-by-blow account of how he fought out in his plays his great life battles—love against hate, doubt against belief, life against death—to an ever-expanding understanding. It presents a new kind of criticism, showing how O'Neill's most intimate struggles worked their way to resolution through the drama of his plays. Alexander reveals that he was engineering his own consciousness through his plays and solving his life problems—while the tone, imagery, and richness of the plays all came out of the nexus of memories summoned up by the urgency of the problems he faced in them. By the way of O'Neill, this study moves toward a theory of the impulse that sets off a writer's creativity, and a theory of how that impulse acts to shape a work, not only in a dramatist like O'Neill but also in the case of writers in other mediums, and even of painters and composers. The study begins with Desire Under the Elms because that play's plot was consolidated by a dream that opened up the transfixing grief that precipitated the play for O'Neill, and it ends with Days Without End when he had resolved his major emotional-philosophical struggle and created within himself the voice of his final great plays. Since the analysis brings to bear on the plays all of his conscious decisions, ideas, theories, as well as the life-and-death struggles motivating them, documenting even the final creative changes made during rehearsals, this book provides a definitive account of the nine plays analyzed in detail (Desire Under the Elms, Marco Millions, The Great God Brown, Lazarus Laughed, Strange Interlude, Dynamo, Mourning Becomes Electra, Ah, Wilderness!, and Days Without End, with additional analysis of plays written before and after.
In Eugene O'Neill's Creative Struggle, Doris Alexander gives us a new kind of inside biography that begins where the others leave off. It follows O'Neill through the door into his writing room to give a blow-by-blow account of how he fought out in his plays his great life battles—love against hate, doubt against belief, life against death—to an ever-expanding understanding. It presents a new kind of criticism, showing how O'Neill's most intimate struggles worked their way to resolution through the drama of his plays. Alexander reveals that he was engineering his own consciousness through his plays and solving his life problems—while the tone, imagery, and richness of the plays all came out of the nexus of memories summoned up by the urgency of the problems he faced in them. By the way of O'Neill, this study moves toward a theory of the impulse that sets off a writer's creativity, and a theory of how that impulse acts to shape a work, not only in a dramatist like O'Neill but also in the case of writers in other mediums, and even of painters and composers. The study begins with Desire Under the Elms because that play's plot was consolidated by a dream that opened up the transfixing grief that precipitated the play for O'Neill, and it ends with Days Without End when he had resolved his major emotional-philosophical struggle and created within himself the voice of his final great plays. Since the analysis brings to bear on the plays all of his conscious decisions, ideas, theories, as well as the life-and-death struggles motivating them, documenting even the final creative changes made during rehearsals, this book provides a definitive account of the nine plays analyzed in detail (Desire Under the Elms, Marco Millions, The Great God Brown, Lazarus Laughed, Strange Interlude, Dynamo, Mourning Becomes Electra, Ah, Wilderness!, and Days Without End, with additional analysis of plays written before and after.
Within little more than three years of the opening of his first successful play on Broadway, Eugene O'Neill endured the deaths of his father, mother, and brother. These devastating losses plunged the young playwright into a period of guilt and profound mourning that consumed two decades of his life. In this enlightening critical biography, deeply informed by the insights of psychoanalysis, Stephen Black presents a new understanding of Eugene O'Neill's life (1888-1953), from his troubled childhood and adolescence through a glacially slow period of mourning for his family to his ultimate emergence from the preoccupation with grief and loss that had pervaded his life and his writings. Black argues that O'Neill consciously and deliberately used playwriting as a medium of self-psychoanalysis—an endeavor that led to the creation of some of the finest American plays ever written and, eventually, to a successful therapeutic outcome. Through close analysis of O'Neill's plays and literary writings, some five thousand surviving letters, other personal documents, and accounts of people who knew him, Black reaches new conclusions about important aspects of the playwright's life and work. He follows the slow course of O'Neill's mourning by studying the many grieving characters in O'Neill's plays, and when at last the playwright accepts his losses and moves on, his characters do likewise. The changed tone and form of O'Neill's final plays, including Hughie and A Moon for the Misbegotten, reflect the playwright's psychological and artistic growth and his hard-won victory over mourning and tragedy.
A major new biography of Eugene O'Neill, the Nobel Prize–winning dramatist who revolutionized American theater“Restores balance to the slightly skewed twenty-first century reputation of America’s greatest playwright. . . . [An] important story, perceptively recounted.”—Wendy Smith, Washington PostFinalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize This extraordinary new biography fully captures the intimacies of Eugene O’Neill’s tumultuous life and the profound impact of his work on American drama. Robert M. Dowling innovatively recounts O’Neill’s life in four acts, thus highlighting how the stories he told for the stage interweave with his actual life stories. Each episode also uncovers how O’Neill’s work was utterly intertwined with, and galvanized by, the culture and history of his time. Much is new in this extensively researched book: connections between O’Neill’s plays and his political and philosophical worldview; insights into his Irish upbringing and lifelong torment over losing faith in God; his vital role in African American cultural history; unpublished photographs, including a unique offstage picture of him with his lover Louise Bryant; new evidence of O’Neill’s desire to become a novelist and what this reveals about his unique dramatic voice; and a startling revelation about the release of Long Day’s Journey Into Night in defiance of his explicit instructions. This biography is also the first to discuss O’Neill’s lost play Exorcism (a single copy of which was only recently recovered), a dramatization of his own suicide attempt. Written with lively informality yet a scholar’s strict accuracy, Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts is a biography that America’s foremost playwright richly deserves.
Shaughnessy's Eugene O'Neill in Ireland: The Critical Response is both more and less than a detailed study of how O'Neill's plays have fared in his ancestral homeland. Part theater history and part influence study, part production sourcebook and part anthology of criticism, this volume touches on all the possible connections between the playwright and the country to which he was so closely tied. American LiteratureAlthough Eugene O'Neill felt that his Irishness was the single feature that came closest to explaining his work, the reaction of the Irish critics and public to his plays has never been systematically explored. This new study is the first to focus on Irish perceptions of O'Neill. It traces the discussion carried on by Irish critics, scholars, and theatre professionals and reveals, in the process, many exciting new insights into the nature and significance of the dramatist's work. A balanced and informative treatment, it includes the author's penetrating analysis of the ways O'Neill's Irish heritage affected his work, a selection of essays by Irish critics, and information on Irish productions of his plays.Shaughnessy first examines the dimensions of the playwright's Irish connections -- his ancestry and cultural heritage and his use of Irish-related themes, symbols, and language. He looks at the history of productions staged in Ireland between 1922 and 1987 and at the Irish perceptions of 'the O'Neill issue.' Drawing on reviews, personal interviews, questionnaires, and letters, Shaughnessy reveals the complexity of the controversy surrounding the playwright's work. Selected essays, editorials, reviews, and scholarly commentaries -- many reprinted here for the first time -- demonstrate the range of opinion and the continuing impact of O'Neill plays on Irish thought. A catalog of productions of O'Neill plays in both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland provides information on the dates and locations of productions as well as casts and directors. This lively and informative work also includes a selection of superb photos of O'Neill productions staged by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin Gate Theatre, and Belfast Lyric Players.
In this third volume of Greenwood's Great American Orators series, Logue delineates the oratory career of Eugene Talmadge whose public speaking illustrates the use--and some would say the abuse--of a most necessary democratic institution: free speech in the political arena. Logue notes in Talmadge's speeches the seeds of today's public discourse, preoccupied as it often is with distorting issues and conduct. Talmadge based his political rise in Georgia on appeals to the experiences, values, and prejudices of his listeners; perceptions that were geographic, social, and racial. For Talmadge, campaign issues were ultimately less important than his colorful persona and seductive public oratory--a brand of politics that came to be known as Talmadgeism. This volume represents a landmark study in the genre of rhetoric by which citizens and issues are exploited primarily for personal political goals.In Part I, Logue presents critical analyses of Talmadge's political and persuasive strategies and performances, plus an assessment of people's responses to them. Part II contains authoritative speech texts representative of Talmadge's campaign oratory and post-election rhetoric defending his policies and causes. A definitive bibliography contains important primary and secondary materials that relate to both the man and his works. The chronology of speeches includes places, dates, and lists of most of the orator's known speeches and addresses. Students and scholars of the history and criticism of American public address as well as students of the American democratic process and southern politics will find Eugene Talmadge: Rhetoric and Response an important addition to both their libraries and their thinking on this vital subject.
This collection commemorating the centennial of American playwright Eugene O'Neill's birth presents a spectrum of critical views unusual for its variety and breadth of scholarship. Contributors from such diverse fields as Psychology, English Literature, Germanic Studies, Philosophy, the Classics, and Theatre Arts offer fresh perspectives on and penetrating interpretations of America's one indisputable world dramatist. Following editor Richard F. Moorton, Jr.'s introduction, which considers critical problems in O'Neill scholarship, the work is organized into three sections devoted to the nature of O'Neill's dramaturgy, the cultural and autobiographical sources for his art, and the challenges of bringing that art to the stage. The essays' range encompasses literary criticism of O'Neill, psychoanalytic and feminist interpretations of the plays, O'Neill in translation, and a look at the playwright from an actor's perspective. An essay on O'Neill and film contains an invaluable appendix of television adaptations of the playwright's work. Eugene O'Neill's Century opens with Moorton's vigorous defense of O'Neill's tragedy and locates its genius in the violation of intimate relationships, especially the family, a notion crucial to Aristotle's definition of tragedy. The six essays in the collection's first section, O'Neill's Tragic Art, analyze O'Neill's drama on its own terms. Found here are a new theory of O'Neill's conception of drama; a Russian Formalist approach to Long Day's Journey into Night; an analysis of the plays' verbal violence; a feminist psychoanalysis of Mourning Becomes Electra; a study of film adaptations of the plays; and a look at O'Neill in translation. The five essays of section two, Art and Life: Wellsprings of Genius, locate the influences that helped to shape the artist's work: both in his own life and in other works of art such as Aeschylus' Eumenides. Views of O'Neill's work from the perspective of the living theatre compose section three, O'Neill Onstage, in which the playwright's stage directions for the actor are examined in terms of the nature of his art; and the common pursuit of O'Neill scholars and theatrical practitioners is explored. Readers of O'Neill will find this presentation indispensable. It should be on the shelves of both university and public libraries.
The year 1988 was notable for being the centennial of playwright Eugene O'Neill's birth and a time of unprecedented democratization in the People's Republic of China and rapprochement with the West. In this optimal climate, a remarkable festival and conference devoted to O'Neill was held in Nanjing, China, orchestrated mainly by Haiping Liu, who secured the funds and cooperation necessary to lure noted O'Neill scholars and theatre artists from around the world. Liu selected and edited papers for publication after the conference, but he realized that this would be a difficult task conducted from China. At his invitation Lowell Swortzell, a conference participant, became co-editor, and in the dark days following the political upheaval in China in 1989, Swortzell assumed much of the burden of editing, organizing, clearing rights, and generally readying the final volume.The essays included capture the intellectual and artistic stimulation of the conference. Organized in divisions similar to the order in which the papers were delivered, they explore the major areas of O'Neill scholarship by some of the most renowned scholars from the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, and China. They emphasize O'Neill's international reputation and productions, particularly in Asia. Included is an open forum discussion of the festival productions, as well as photographs. The circumstances of the festival and conference are a story unto themselves, and in their individual introductions, the co-editors relate some of the background and convey some of the flavor of the events--providing insights into the continued appeal of O'Neill in China and the world.
Through a close re-examination of Eugene O’Neill’s oeuvre, from minor plays to his Pulitzer-winning works, this study proposes that O’Neill’s vision of tragedy privileges a particular emotional response over a more “rational” one among his audience members. In addition to offering a new paradigm through which to interpret O’Neill’s work, this book argues that O’Neill’s theory of tragedy is a robust account of the value of difficult theatre as a whole, with more explanatory scope and power than its cognitivist counterparts. This paradigm reshapes our understanding of live theatrical tragedy’s impact and significance for our lives. The book enters the discussion of tragic value by way of the plays of Eugene O’Neill, and through this study, Killian makes the case that O’Neill has refused to allow Plato to define the terms of tragedy’s merit, as the cognitivists have. He argues that O’Neill’s theory of tragedy is non-cognitive and locates the value of a play in its ability to trigger certain emotional responses from the audience. This would be of great interest to students and scholars of performance studies, literature and philosophy.
Through a close re-examination of Eugene O’Neill’s oeuvre, from minor plays to his Pulitzer-winning works, this study proposes that O’Neill’s vision of tragedy privileges a particular emotional response over a more “rational” one among his audience members. In addition to offering a new paradigm through which to interpret O’Neill’s work, this book argues that O’Neill’s theory of tragedy is a robust account of the value of difficult theatre as a whole, with more explanatory scope and power than its cognitivist counterparts. This paradigm reshapes our understanding of live theatrical tragedy’s impact and significance for our lives. The book enters the discussion of tragic value by way of the plays of Eugene O’Neill, and through this study, Killian makes the case that O’Neill has refused to allow Plato to define the terms of tragedy’s merit, as the cognitivists have. He argues that O’Neill’s theory of tragedy is non-cognitive and locates the value of a play in its ability to trigger certain emotional responses from the audience. This would be of great interest to students and scholars of performance studies, literature and philosophy.
Fans of Hofstadter's Le Ton beau de Marot will be delighted to see his meticulous theories of translation put into practice in what seems destined to become the definitive English-language version of Eugene Onegin. It is sure to bring new and deserving readers to this neglected literary jewel.
Eugene Onegin, a narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin, is often regarded as his greatest work and a landmark of Russian literature. Written intermittently from 1823 to 1831, the poem is considered a masterpiece for its insightful portrayal of Russian society and its timeless depiction of love, regret, and the clash of characters and ideals. Pushkin’s creation of Tatyana, the heroine, is especially notable, as she is viewed as the precursor to many of the compelling Russian women that would later appear in works by writers such as Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy. This enduring legacy has made Eugene Onegin an essential text for students of Russian literature. The current translation draws heavily on Professor Patrick’s meticulous prose version, which was carefully reviewed for accuracy. While earlier English translations have existed, such as Lieutenant-Colonel Spalding’s 1881 edition, this translation aims to preserve the natural flow and grace of Pushkin's original. Pushkin’s rhyme scheme, which follows a distinctive fourteen-line stanza with a specific rhyme pattern, has been adapted here to fit English while maintaining its musicality. The diction is intentionally informal to match Pushkin’s ease of expression, with slight adjustments made for cultural nuances, especially in the portrayal of Tatyana’s courageous declarations of love. This version also integrates Pushkin’s original notes and helpful commentary to ensure readers can fully appreciate the depth of the poem. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1937.
Eugene Onegin, a narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin, is often regarded as his greatest work and a landmark of Russian literature. Written intermittently from 1823 to 1831, the poem is considered a masterpiece for its insightful portrayal of Russian society and its timeless depiction of love, regret, and the clash of characters and ideals. Pushkin’s creation of Tatyana, the heroine, is especially notable, as she is viewed as the precursor to many of the compelling Russian women that would later appear in works by writers such as Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy. This enduring legacy has made Eugene Onegin an essential text for students of Russian literature. The current translation draws heavily on Professor Patrick’s meticulous prose version, which was carefully reviewed for accuracy. While earlier English translations have existed, such as Lieutenant-Colonel Spalding’s 1881 edition, this translation aims to preserve the natural flow and grace of Pushkin's original. Pushkin’s rhyme scheme, which follows a distinctive fourteen-line stanza with a specific rhyme pattern, has been adapted here to fit English while maintaining its musicality. The diction is intentionally informal to match Pushkin’s ease of expression, with slight adjustments made for cultural nuances, especially in the portrayal of Tatyana’s courageous declarations of love. This version also integrates Pushkin’s original notes and helpful commentary to ensure readers can fully appreciate the depth of the poem. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1937.
