Editor’s Foreword

In his Foreword to the 2016 issue of The Eugene O’Neill Review, outgoing editor William Davies King remarked on the collaborative effort that goes into producing this journal. That has never been more apparent than in the transitional period that followed Dave’s editorial farewell. The next two issues were “special topics” issues edited by Judith Barlow (“The Women in O’Neill’s World,” 2017) and Audrey McNamara and Nelson O’Ceallaigh Ritschell (“Ireland: The Constant Presence” 2018), leading up to the current issue, a return to the usual, more eclectic format and the first to be edited by new EOR editor Kurt Eisen. The current issue also marks the passing of book review editing from the capable hands of Chris Westgate to those of Patrick Chura and performance review editing from the equally capable hands of Katie Johnson to those of Alex Pettit. Kurt reviewed and accepted submissions, shaping an engaging issue with a diverse array of fresh critical perspectives on a range of O’Neill’s works. When health problems delayed Kurt from bringing the issue to completion, I agreed to marshal the issue through to publication, as Kurt’s guest co-editor. At that time, Society President Rob Dowling, Secretary/Treasurer Beth Wynstra, and former EOR editor Dave King stepped up to help with editorial chores on some accepted manuscripts, and the outgoing and incoming book and performance review editors named above all pitched in, as well.

Coming on the heels of two “special topics” issues, this issue has no unifying theme other than Eugene O’Neill, which means that it is woven together with familiar O’Neillian threads that reveal new patterns, and that it resonates with implications of O’Neill’s wide-ranging legacy. Of the six essays, two analyze O’Neill’s drama through a Nietzschean lens. In one, Jeremy Killian uses Nietzsche’s notions about pity to take a fresh look at O’Neill’s experimentation with and redefining of tragedy in the recently rediscovered Exorcism. In the other, Yuji Omori applies Nietzsche’s philosophy of earth to an understanding of the search for God and existential meaning in The Great God Brown. Two other essays focus on aspects of O’Neill’s multifaceted dramaturgy. In one, Chloé Lucidarme plumbs the depths of O’Neill’s obsession with the sea to discover a particular influence of shipwrecks (including, but not limited to, the 1912 Titanic) reflected in nomenclature and situations in some of his early plays. In the other, Sarah Bess Rowen brings a theatrical sensibility to O’Neill’s prolific stage directions to understand them as inspiring, rather than limiting, creativity in actors and directors who produce O’Neill’s plays. The other two essays stake claims for O’Neill’s legacy. Robert Baker-White demonstrates that O’Neill’s recurring theatrical depictions of the “nonhuman natural” resonate in the works of other American dramatists, from his contemporaries to ours, establishing an enduring and distinctively American motif. Finally, John Bak considers Tennessee Williams’s evolving identification with and appreciation for O’Neill, including a close and revealing look at a paper on O’Neill that Williams wrote in college. The issue includes book reviews of two significant new contributions to O’Neill scholarship, one edited by Kurt Eisen and the other edited by David Palmer. Finally, performance reviews take the reader from coast to coast, with a stop in the Midwest, for a taste of productions of plays from early and late in O’Neill’s canon.

This is an issue that ranges from the earliest to the latest of O’Neill’s plays, and with its variety of critical perspectives, acknowledges both the literary and theatrical O’Neill, demonstrating again why his works continue to fascinate readers and audiences alike. The issue you hold in your hands is truly a team effort, and Kurt and I want to thank all of those involved. Team O’Neill does it again!