The Cornell Letters: Eugene O'Neill On His Craftmanship To George Jean Nathan

Abstract

THE LETTERS WRITTEN TO GEORGE JEAN NATHAN BY Eugene O'Neill constitute a wealth of material for any study of the dramatist, as recognized by his major biographers, Barbara and Arthur Gelb in O'Neill (New York, 1964) and Louis Scheaffer in O'Neill: Son and Playwright (Boston, 1968). What has not been adequately appreciated, however, is that these letters present one of the most significant commentaries by any modern dramatist upon his own craftsmanship, as this illustrated description of the Cornell Collection will suggest.