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1969 BOOK REVIEWS 107 I probably should have known better. During my own study of O'Neill at the time of the O'Neill revival I had read almost everything which Raleigh has included. However, seeing them together in this volume, and reading them straight through (one can complete the anthology easily in no more than two moderate sittings) create a different impression. For here in one well-edited book are pieces praising and condemning, analyzing and dissecting, expressed by every voice from the most scholarly opinion to the most off-the-cuff opening night comment . The ultimate and strong realization is that O'Neill wrote one of his most artistically well-integrated plays, and that despite length, tedium, garrulity, and overstatement, he created a kind of masterpiece. Clearly it will survive long after the now fast-fading overblown giants of the past such as Strange Interlude or Mourning Becomes Electra are forgotten. Raleigh's earlier study, The Plays of Eugene O'Neill, was brought out in 1965. His eighteen-page introductory summary of O'Neill's life and the style and theme of the play, and his own chapter on the historical background of The Iceman are therefore based on considerable familiarity and understanding of O'Neill's place as a dramatic artist. Furthermore, the choices of essays have been made with care. The generally discouraging views of Eric Bentley in "Trying to Like O'Neill" (the major essay on The Iceman with which I have always found most agreement), or "Eugene O'Neill: Dry Ice," by Mary McCarthy, are well balanced by the less negative outlooks expressed in Cyrus Day's "The Iceman and the Bridegroom: Some Observations on the Death of O'Neill's Salesman," and Robert Brustein's excerpts from The Theatre of Revolt. To be sure, Raleigh did not have a significantly large body of criticism from which to choose for the simple reason that, apart from assorted opening night reviews of the 1946 premiere or the 1956 revival, there is a very limited number of essays devoted solely to the play. Only two are dated after 1960, and several are excerpted from books, including Raleigh's own. None the less, the choices are good. I would have liked a few more opening night reviews for contrast between George Jean Nathan's in 1946 or Brooks Atkinson's in 1956. Perhaps some of the material by John Mason Brown or Joseph Wood Krutch would have lent better balance. Mainly it boils down to a matter of personal choice, and Raleigh has filled his limited space extremely well. There are also excerpts from some letters, and passages from some interviews with O'Neill, as well as a highly selected bibliography and a brief chronology of .o'Neill's life. All in all, this Twentieth Century Interpretation is a worthy addition to a critical library of modern American drama, and to the entire Interpretation series. Although I might still argue with the choice of the play (why not ,one on Long Day's Journey?), I have absolutely no quarrel with Professor Raleigh's .approach, his organization, or his choices. JORDAN Y. MILLER Kansas State University THE SEAN O'CASEY READER: PLAYS, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, OPINIONS) Edited, with an Introduction by Brooks Atkinson, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1968, 1008 pp. $12.50. This is a big, generous and substantial volume which contains eight of O'Casey's full-length plays, a one-act, about 300 pages culled from the autobiographies, about 100 pages of short pieces, Charles Carpenter's Bibliography which was originally printed in Modern Drama, and a longish introduction by the editor. It is an 108 MODERN DRAMA May admirable book for small libraries and, although its heft may prove a bit chestcrushing , even for the ordinary bedside browser. Mr. Atkinson's introduction offers nothing new either factually or critically, but it is a warm-hearted and sympathetic summary of the usual facts and opinions. A somewhat provocative point does, however, arise from the editor's choices. Certain items inevitably appear, for a volume without Juno or The Plough or Cock-a-Doodle Dandy would be unthinkable. Nevertheless, I would have liked a fuller representation of...

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