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11th out of 21 books
—
2 voters
Three Plays: Desire Under the Elms / Strange Interlude / Mourning Becomes Electra
These three plays exemplify Eugene O'Neil's ability to explore the limits of the human predicament, even as he sounds the depths of his audiences' hearts.
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
October 31st 1995
by Vintage
(first published 1931)
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Re. Strange Interlude: this was the first O'Neill I'd read in more than 30 years - I'd read most of the major plays back in the day - and this was in fact a rereading. Given all the O'Neill tics and smothering stage direction, surprisingly contemporary, although wordier than even the wordy playwright needed it to be - did he really need to spell out, in explicitly abecedarian detail, every single thing? Controversial at the time, and O'Neill's most successful Broadway production, we have to wond...more
This is intense melodramatic stuff. What is striking about Eugene O'Neill's dramas is the awarenes and portrayal of what protagonists are thinking juxtaposed to what they are actually saying. I imagine that the plays are therefore onyl producable for the radio. A large part of the action takes place at two simultaneous levels (the spoken and the unspoken). This stresses the siunity of the human persona and is therefore intensely psychological in the modern, post-Freudian sense of the word. The c...more
Out of largesse, 3-stars. Life is a "pipe dream," eh, and "dere's dat ol debbil sea." O, shut the fuk up, Gene. He yanked American drama away fr mawkish mellerdramer, and introduced sex & neurosis (on an adult level), bolstered by his knowledge of Freud, Jung and himself. Today he's unreadable and almost unplayable. I'm glad bio-writers keep his name flickering, I guess, but the only work that holds up is "Long Day's etc." Despite an interesting Life, his "theatre" of the psychic and subcons...more
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Two stars for Desire Under the Elms
This probably wasn't the best O'Neill drama to start off with. For me it was coarse and dark, and none of the characters were really likable (although perhaps that was the point?).
The action was fast-moving and even a bit crazed. There also didn't seem to be a whole lot of true, believable character development.
Overall, just not my taste, but I still might try to read the others in the volume.
Update on April 30, 2011:
Four stars for Strange Interlude
In contrast...more
This probably wasn't the best O'Neill drama to start off with. For me it was coarse and dark, and none of the characters were really likable (although perhaps that was the point?).
The action was fast-moving and even a bit crazed. There also didn't seem to be a whole lot of true, believable character development.
Overall, just not my taste, but I still might try to read the others in the volume.
Update on April 30, 2011:
Four stars for Strange Interlude
In contrast...more
So far I have only read one of the three playes - Mourning becomes Electra. I read it for a university course about "American Drama".
With a lot of references and similarities to Greek Mythology O'Neill wrote a family-drama taking place at the end of the Civil War in New England.
Right at the beginning is the heroic husband poisoned by his not-so-loving-anymore wife. His daughter, who always hated her mother and doted on her father, persuades her brother to take revenge and kill the lover of thei...more
With a lot of references and similarities to Greek Mythology O'Neill wrote a family-drama taking place at the end of the Civil War in New England.
Right at the beginning is the heroic husband poisoned by his not-so-loving-anymore wife. His daughter, who always hated her mother and doted on her father, persuades her brother to take revenge and kill the lover of thei...more
Strange Interlude is very good, but Desire Under the Elms and Mourning Becomes Electra are both masterpieces. O'Neill's just a genius when it comes to displaying his characters' souls, and whether what we see is revolting or noble, there is an underlying sympathy for just about every character that he pens in the two plays.
I only read one play from this collection, Desire Under The Elms. However, it was fantastic. It is a wonderful play about the culture of New Endlang, and the time frame that it was in. It showed how dark New England can be, and the effects of marrying down. There were many twists in the play, and then some that were predictable. It's a show that makes you want to jump off a cliff, so keep yourself away from sharp objects once you get to the last act.
am planning on seeing the broadway production of "desire under the elms" with a co-worker. The story is tragic, but the vernacular of the characters is fun and quick -despite the darkness of the storyline
Jan 13, 2008
Allison
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who aren't afraid of dark nights of the soul
Shelves:
never-finished,
drama
I read Desire Under the Elms and Mourning Becomes Elektra. I was so disturbed by the latter that I can't get myself to read Strange Interlude. I probably won't ever read it without the pressure of academic supervision. O'Neill is a richly skilled writer, but he is dark and humorless. Martin McDonagh, another dark playwright, writes about similarly tragic people and families, but adds a comic undertone that makes them entertaining. Mourning Becomes Elektra I read over the course of two days, and...more
Dialect in "Desire Under the Elms" was distracting, and "Strange Interlude" took a while to get going, but the Mourning Becomes Electra cycle is goooood.
Immensely psychological, great language, meant to be read as much as produced, it seems.
Mar 16, 2009
Brian
is currently reading it
Inspired by Goodman's amazing O'Neill festival this winter...
Good, but Strange Interlude was unnecessarily long.
Desire Under The Elms - sexy and engrossing
Strange Interlude - groundbreaking and thematically compelling
Mourning Becomes Electra - interesting and yet slacking in dramatic purpose
Strange Interlude - groundbreaking and thematically compelling
Mourning Becomes Electra - interesting and yet slacking in dramatic purpose
Read in college.
Desire Under the Elms is a play about very simple people tossed into a very complex situation. But in there ignorance you get a very emotional look into such great problems as opposed to a logical approach. So in essence these people seem much more human and relatable. The language is very hard to get past because the author really nails the southern slang but makes it difficult to read quickly and burn through it.
Eugene O'Neill has a crazy way of creating real-life characters doing strange stuff -- and I agree with it. If you like reading plays, I recommend reading one of his. llw
I absolutely adore Mourning Becomes Electra!
AP Senior English.
Read Desire Under the Elms and Strange Interlude in English 52: 20th Century Drama with Professor Donald Pease.
O'Neill is an overlooked playwright who was once studied consistently in academia. He's intense and very talented.
Can never get enough of O'Neill. Will read again in another year or two
Eugene O' Neill is my favorite playwright (besides Shakespeare)!
This rating is really for Desire. Haven't read the other two.
You should read more Eugene O'Neill.
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Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright who won the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced American drama to the dramatic realism pioneered by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwr...more
More about Eugene O'Neill...
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