The Atlantic Bookshelf: A Guide to Good Books

EUGENE GLADSTONE

O’NEILL, to the theatre born, is now in his fortyfourth year, generally regarded as the most gifted American dramatist, past or present. Son of James O’Neill, a melodramatic actor of the old school, he has himself played in vaudeville. He had interludes of study at Princeton, and at Harvard under Professor Baker. He worked on a newspaper and at various jobs in South and Central America. He served two years before the mast. From 1914 onward he has been absorbed in the theatre. Beyond the Horizon and Emperor Jones proclaimed his early brilliance, Anna Christie and The Hairy Ape extended his reputation abroad. Desire under the Elms and Strange Interlude further proved the power and importance of his playwrighting. His published works are twenty-eight in number; the earliest of them are already collectors’ pieces. Three times his plays have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

Play reading is rather an unusual form of entertainment in America. Yet Strange Interlude sold over 200,000 copies in book form.