O'Neill's Idea of Theater

Highsmith, James Milton

doi:10.2307/3198084

South Atlantic Bulletin

1968

DOI: 10.2307/3198084

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O'Neill's Idea of Theater

James Milton Highsmith¹

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1978

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Eugene O'Neill's Aesthetic of the Drama*

Voelker¹

1978

Modern Drama

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IT IS PROBABLY GOING TOO FAR to say, as James Milton Highsmith did several years ago, that Eugene O'Neill "never allowed himself to formulate theories of drama." As a matter of fact, throughout most of his active play-writing career, O'Neill was continually formulating such theories and expressing them, but his expressions seldom found their way into print in a rigorous form such as the expository essay. O'Neill himself believed that it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, for him to express himself clearly and correctly "in such a manner. As he told Kenneth Macgowan on one occasion, "I've never written a review or article of any kind in my life. . .. My mind can't seem to concentrate along those lines...." Similarly, O'Neill told his friend Benjamin De Casseres that "when it comes to anything like articles, introductions, etc. I simply don't function right." About the closest he ever came to such a formalized presentation was the series of three pieces he produced in 1932 for George Jean Nathan's The American Spectator; but as the title in the first of the series, "Memoranda on Masks" suggests, none of these items constitutes a coherent essay. Characteristically, it took O'Neill at least four drafts to complete what he called "the damned article."

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Eugene O'Neill's Aesthetic of the Drama*

Voelker¹

1978

Modern Drama

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O'Neill's Idea of Theater

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Eugene O'Neill's Aesthetic of the Drama*

Eugene O'Neill's Aesthetic of the Drama*

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