O`Neill: Son and Playwright

O'Neill: Son and Playwright
by Louis Sheaffer
Eugene O'Neill'in yaşamını hemen tüm yönleriyle ele alan, ancak yazarın aile çevresinin ve kendi yalnızlığını odağa
taşıyan oylumlu bir çalışma. O'Neill'in otobiyografik oyunu olan ve Amerikan tiyatrosunun başyapıtı sayılan Long
day's Journey Into Night'ı temel alan kitap, bu oyunda açığa çıkan gerçekler üzerinden yazarın portresini çiziyor.
Annesiyle olan tuhaf ilişkisi, babasının bir rol model olmaktan çok ailenin mezar kazıcısına, büyük ağabeyin ise kısa
zamanda bir kaybedene dönüşmesi kuşkusuz onun kişiliğini ve hayata bakış açısını belirliyor. Kendini yalnızlaştıran,
isyan eden, farkına vardıkça toplumdan ve onun kurallarından kopan bir adama...
Tüm yaşamı bir enigma olan O'Neill'in henüz derinlerine inilememiş zihninin ışıltılarıya aydınlanmak için mutlaka
göz atılmalı.|So...I've been doing a lot of research on Eugene O'Neill because I produced THE ICEMAN COMETH at
Washington State Penitentiary this year. I also teach THE HAIRY APE every year, so...it makes sense to look this
man up. And...the landmark biography by Louis Sheaffer deserved its two-tome length and its Pulitzer Prize...in
addition, to deserving the respect Louis Sheaffer gave it by researching this complicated man for 15 years. The
think I like the best about this first book is the fact that I don't like Eugene O'Neill, and, yet, I continue to turn the
pages. He is endlessly fascinating and infuriating. I'm also learning a lot about the early years of American Theater
production. The Provincetown Players were technically the first "community theater" and then that community
theater/amateur theater grew into a mid-career theater and then some of its founders became "established
artists". The fusing of the lines of production was how production began in the United States, and with the
regional theater movement, all of those original habits changed. I think that the regional theater movement is
dying, and we in the theater world could learn about how to fix that by reading our founders' habits. Anyway, a
fascinating read, and a thought-provoking one.|I attempted to read the set of books but it was too detailed. Great
books if you are researching him or the most devoted fan. But too long winded for my level of interest.