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Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg. The drama ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' is often numbered on the short list of being among the finest American plays in the 20th century, alongside Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' and Arthur Miller's ''Death of a Salesman''.〔Harold Bloom (2007). Introduction. In: Bloom (Ed.), ''(Tennessee Williams )'', updated edition. Infobase Publishing. p. 2.〕 O'Neill's plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society. They struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. Of his very few comedies, only one is well-known (''Ah, Wilderness!'').〔''The New York Times'', August 25, 2003: 'Next year Playwrights Theater will present an unproduced O'Neill comedy, ''Now I Ask You'', a comic spin on Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler''."〕〔The Eugene O'Neill Foundation newsletter: "''Now I Ask You'', along with ''The Movie Man'', ... is the only surviving comedy from O’Neill’s early years."〕 Nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism. ==Early life== O'Neill was born in a hotel, the Barrett House, at Broadway and 43rd Street, on what was then Longacre Square (now Times Square). A commemorative plaque was first dedicated there in 1957.〔〔Simonson, Robert (July 23, 2012). "(Ask Playbill.com: A Question About Eugene O'Neill's Birthplace, in a Broadway Hotel )." ''Playbill''. Retrieved 2015-08-20. Simonson explains that the original plaque was lost in 1961, during a renovation, and a new one installed in 1973; but, remarkably, the original plaque turned up around 1997, and it was finally rededicated in the year 2000.〕 The site is now occupied by 1500 Broadway, which houses, offices, retail, and ABC Studios.〔Henderson, Kathy (April 21, 2009). "( The Tragic Roots of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms )." ''Broadway.com''. Retrieved 2015-08-20.〕 He was the son of Irish immigrant actor James O'Neill and Mary Ellen Quinlan, who was also of Irish descent. Because of his father's occupation, O'Neill was sent to St. Aloysius Academy for Boys, a Catholic boarding school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where he found his only solace in books. His father suffered from alcoholism and his mother from mental illness. O'Neill spent his summers at the Monte Cristo Cottage in New London, Connecticut. He attended Princeton University for one year. Accounts vary as to why he left. He may have been dropped for attending too few classes,〔Manheim, Michael (Ed.), ''The Cambridge Companion to Eugene O'Neil'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998, p. 97〕 been suspended for "conduct code violations,"〔Bloom, Steven F., ''Student Companion to Eugene O'Neil'', Greenwood Press, Westport 2007, p. 3〕 or "for breaking a window",〔Abbotson, Susan C.W., ''Masterpieces of 20th-Century American Drama'', Greenwood Press, Westport 2005, p. 8〕 or according to a more concrete but possibly apocryphal account, because he threw "a beer bottle into the window of Professor Woodrow Wilson", the future president of the United States.〔O'Neill, Eugene, ''Ah, Wilderness!'', Hirschgraben-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1959, in the preface by Dr. Karl Goldmann, p. 3〕 O'Neill spent several years at sea, during which he suffered from depression and alcoholism. Despite this, he had a deep love for the sea and it became a prominent theme in many of his plays, several of which are set on board ships like those on which he worked. O'Neill joined the Marine Transport Workers Union of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which was fighting for improved living conditions for the working class using quick 'on the job' direct action.〔http://patrickmurfin.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-sailor-who-became-americas.html〕 O'Neill's parents and elder brother Jamie (who drank himself to death at the age of 45) died within three years of one another, not long after he had begun to make his mark in the theater. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eugene O'Neill」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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