Специфика реализации мотива «апофеоз» в пьесе Ю. О’Нила «Император Джонс»

Abstract

The 1936 Nobel laureate Eugene O’Neill is recognised by many critics as the “father of American drama”. This certainly does not mean that there had been no theatre in America prior to the turn of the XX century, however, the heyday of American drama, its formation as an original, national phenomenon largely autonomous from European drama coincided with the appearance of E. O’Neill’s plays on the American stage. The aim of the study is to identify the features of functioning of the motif “apotheosis” in E. O’Neill’s play “The Emperor Jones”. In order to do so, the author of the paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of various components of the play, paying special attention to its imaginative dimension. Despite the significant number of academic papers devoted to the creative work of the American playwright, his inherent depth and unique style make it possible to find new, previously unexplored facets of his literary heritage. The motifs of E. O’Neill’s writings are among the little-studied issues. The motif “apotheosis” has not been considered before, which accounts for the scientific novelty of the paper. As a result of the study, the author identifies and describes the elements of E. O’Neill’s poetics in which the desired motif is seen, establishes a connection between the analysed narrative unit and the range of social problems of the play.