Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (New York City, October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953 in Boston) was an American playwright. More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism pioneered by Chekhov, Ibsen, and Strindberg into American drama. Generally, his plays involve characters who inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into dillusionment and despair.

Selected Works

• Beyond the Horizon, 1920
• The Hairy Ape, 1922
• Anna Christie, 1922
• Desire Under the Elms, 1925
• Strange Interlude, 1928
• Mourning Becomes Electra, 1931
• Ah, Wilderness!, 1933
• The Iceman Cometh, written 1939, first performed 1946
• Long Day's Journey Into Night, written 1941, first performed 1956
• A Moon for the Misbegotten, 1943
• A Touch of the Poet, completed in 1942, first performed 1958
• More Stately Mansions, second draft found in O'Neill's papers, first performed 1967