O'Neill, Eugene: 1888-1953

Long Day's Journey Into Night, 1941 - Information about the Book

Facts | Articles

General Information
- It is widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the great American plays of the 20th century.
- On the twelfth wedding anniversary with his wife Carlotta, O'Neill gave her the script of the play. Yet it was not performed until 1956
- Information from Wikipedia
- Information from StageAgent
- Information from Encyclopedia
Facts
- Awards: Here are some of the most notable ones:
  
  Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1957 (awarded posthumously)
  Tony Award for Best Play in 1957
  New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play in 1957
  Developed by ChatGPT AI
- Character List
- Character Analysis
- Topics
  
  Addiction and Substance Abuse
  A central theme is the family's struggles with addiction - Mary Tyrone is addicted to morphine, while her husband James and sons Jamie and Edmund are alcoholics. The play poignantly depicts how their addictions tear the family apart and prevent them from achieving happiness and fulfillment.
  Regret, Guilt and the Inescapable Past
  The Tyrones are haunted by regrets from the past - Mary's decision to give up her ambitions, James's miserliness, Jamie's failures, and Edmund's illness. They are consumed by guilt over their respective roles in the family's misery, unable to escape the ghosts of the past.
  
  Family Dysfunction and Failed Dreams
  The play exposes the deep dysfunction within the Tyrone household, as resentments, miscommunication, and dashed hopes fester over the years. Each character had unfulfilled ambitions and dreams that were sacrificed for the family, breeding discontent.
  
  Autobiographical Elements
  O'Neill drew heavily from his own life experiences in crafting "Long Day's Journey Into Night." Like the Tyrones, his family struggled with addiction, his mother's ambitions were stifled, and his father's miserliness caused resentment. The play served as O'Neill's cathartic self-reflection.
  
  Innovative Theatrical Techniques
  O'Neill pioneered new dramatic techniques in the play, such as maintaining a unity of time and place, using precise stage directions and lighting to convey the passage of time, and employing realistic dialogue to expose the characters' psychological depths. This cemented "Long Day's Journey Into Night" as a landmark of American theater.
  
  In summary, "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is a searing family drama that tackles weighty topics like addiction, regret, dysfunctional relationships, and the haunting power of the past through O'Neill's innovative theatrical lens and autobiographical storytelling.
  
  Developed by Perplexity AI
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Articles
- Commentary:
  Considered by many to be O'Neill's finest dramatic work, Long Day's Journey into Night is a goldmine for discussion of family dynamics under the strain of illness, unemployment, low self-esteem, and substance abuse. The nuances of these relationships are developed with the deep understanding of personal experience and are to be taken seriously as an opportunity for the health care provider to study them carefully.
  Willms, Janice L.
  Excerpted, with permission, from the Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database at New York University School of Medicine, © New York University.
- Commentary: "In this drama, O'Neill resurrects and exorcises old ghosts, coming to terms with his father but not with his mother, for whom he shows some sympathy but never forgiveness or understanding." Margaret Loftus Ranald
- About Long Day's Journey Into Night
- Contour in Time: "O\’Neill’s picture of his younger self and of his brother Jamie is on the surface clear enough. Jamie, like his brother and father, is lost, embittered and cynical, wanting his mother whose rejection of him perhaps reaches farther back than the time when morphine forced her into drugged isolation."
- Meet the master artist through one of his most important works: "Eugene O’Neil introduced American audiences to Realism—the idea that a play should look and sound as much as possible like real life." With a lot of additional information. The Kenndey Center
- About "Long Day's Journey Into Night" by Martin Payrhuber
- Critical Interpretation
- Talk about the Roundabout Theatre Company Production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” WNYC Radio, New York; June 3, 2016
- Set in 1912, "Long Day’s Journey Into Night" still feels like a contemporary drama. KCRW Radio, Santa Monica; June 14, 2018
- Audio (8:37)
  Caitlin Shetterly reports on the play, which echoes O'Neil's own troubled role as a father. NPR Radio; July 12, 2003
- A Journey into Revelation: "The play is a critique on what "The American Dream" has done to America and the Americans." Ruzbeh Babee; 2011
- Critical Analysis with synopsis and commentary: "Few artists, no matter their stature, have been able to achieve this level of immortality in a single work. O’Neill did so." Nasrullah Mambrol; September 29, 2020
- Myth and Realism: "The play is clearly part of the continuum of the theme of lost American innocence". M.C. Ambrose; Sptember 2018
- Collection of Essays