The Psychoanalyzing Of Eugene O'Neill

Abstract

It took the critics a long time to make up their minds about Eugene O'Neill-perhaps because it took him so long to make up his mind about himself. The fact that even by the year of his death it was impossible to pick any single play of his and assert that it was a "typical" play may help to explain the uncertainty. For if one were to say that The Hairy Ape is a typical O'Neill play, there would be Beyond the Horizon to contradict him; if one were to choose Strange Interlude, Ah, Wilderness! would refute him; if The Great God Brown, then where would Marco Millions fit into the picture?