Description: This Critical Companion provides a detailed study of the plays of the Nobel Prize-winning dramatist and situates O'Neill's modernism as a distinctive expression of American culture and stage traditions.
Brief description: Kurt Eisen is professor of English and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tennessee Tech University, USA, where he teaches courses in world literature and drama. He is the author of The Inner Strength of Opposites: O'Neill's Novelistic Drama and the Melodramatic Imagination (1994), and his work has appeared in The Cambridge Companion to Eugene O'Neill, and a variety of journals. He was a fellow of the National Critics Institute in 2001 and is a past president of the Eugene O'Neill Society.
Review Quotes: "This addition to the "Critical Companions" series provides a comprehensive examination of Eugene O'Neill's contributions as a dramatist and his critical role in establishing America's modern theater ... Eisen (Tennessee Tech Univ.) tracks historic and subtle contributions of producers, artists, scholars, political events, and the press, detailing O'Neill's immense literary landscape and influence on Broadway and playwrights who came after him. Filled with insightful revelations from the historical perspective to present-day reflections, this study is certain to contribute to future critical debate. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." --CHOICE