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Introduction
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contents Chronology xiii Introduction 1 chapter one Early Stories of Boulton 24 chapter two Boulton’s Early Stories I: New Woman 51 chapter three Boulton’s Early Stories II: Marriage/License 78 chapter four Traces of Marriage: Provincetown 99 chapter five Traces of Marriage: Ridgefield 112 chapter six Traces of Marriage: Bermuda 136 chapter seven Traces of Separation 148 chapter eight Divorce Papers 176 chapter nine ”A Great Hush of Non-Being” 208 Epilogue: Writing the End 235 Abbreviations Used in the Notes 240 Notes 241 Bibliography 279 Index 293 Photographs following page 98 [44.200.23.133] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:23 GMT) chronology (Note: Reference is made here only to writings discussed in this book.) 1888 Birth in New York City of Eugene Gladstone O’Neill (EO), third son of James O’Neill (1846–1920) and Ella Quinlan O’Neill (1857–1922). Brothers: James “Jamie” O’Neill, Jr. (1878–1923), Edmund O’Neill (1883–1885). EO receives education in a variety of private schools, ending with one year at Princeton University (1906–7). 1892 Birth in London of Agnes Ruby Boulton (AB), eldest daughter of Edward W. Boulton (1868–1927) and Cecil Maud Williams Boulton (1869–1951). Sisters: Barbara Boulton Sheldon (1894–1970), Cecil Boulton Fisk (1898–1981), Margery “Budgie” Boulton Colman (1900–1994). She receives education approximately to the age of seventeen , ending at Philadelphia School of Industrial Arts. 1909 EO marries Kathleen Jenkins in early October, but departs for San Francisco and Honduras by the end of the month. For the next three years, EO works sporadically as a merchant seaman. 1910 Earliest extant publication by AB: “His Former Wife,” 10 Story Book. 1911 AB: “Stranger at the Gate.” 1912 EO attempts suicide at Jimmy the Priest’s, later joins his father on vaudeville tour of The Count of Monte Cristo, becomes reporter for the New London Telegraph. Falls in love with Maibelle Scott. He enters sanatorium for treatment of tuberculosis in late December. AB: “Tombstone Number Seven.” 1913 EO, living in New London, writes his first one-act plays, including A Wife for a Life. AB begins her association with Young’s Magazine (“Daylight,” “With Eyes of Flesh,” and “A Year of Her Life”). 1914 EO ends relationship with Maibelle Scott, falls in love with Beatrice Ashe. He enrolls in George Pierce Baker’s playwriting course at Harvard . 1915 AB gives birth to Barbara Burton in Connecticut. EO begins associating with the Greenwich Village Liberal Club and hanging out at the “Hell Hole” (The Golden Swan). Provincetown Players has its first season in Provincetown, Massachusetts . 1916 Courtland Young deeds the farm in Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut, to AB. Her output of writing sharply increases, including “The DollType ,” “Sisters,” and “Her First Adventure,” in the new magazine edited by Young, Breezy Stories. Article about AB as a dairy farmer appears in New York Evening World. EO spends the summer in Provincetown, and Bound East for Cardiff becomes his first produced play. Beginning of affair with Louise Bryant, wife of John Reed. EO writes Before Breakfast and Tomorrow. In the fall, the Provincetown Players put on their first season in New York. 1917 Peak year of productivity for AB: fourteen publications, including “A Conventional Woman” and “In Bohemia.” AB comes to New York in November, seeking a factory job, and meets EO. EO writes ‘Ile and Moon of the Caribbees, also some short stories. After the end of his affair with Louise Bryant, EO seeks a relationship with various women, including Dorothy Day. In November, he meets AB and immediately declares his attachment to her. 1918 Suicide of Louis Holladay in January. A few days later, AB and EO depart for Provincetown, where they marry on April 12. They remain in Provincetown until fall, when they return to New York for the Provincetown Players’s production of Where the Cross Is Made in November and Moon of the Caribbees in December. They stay at Old House in West Point Pleasant. AB: “Oh, La-La!” “Her Important Self,” “Only a Shop Girl,” “Her Private Secretary,” “To Have Your Cake and Eat It,” “The First Stone,” “Harry and George,” “The Letter,” and the scenario called “The Captain ’s Walk.” EO: Beyond the Horizon, Where the Cross Is Made (adapted from “The Captain’s Walk”), scenarios for Chris Chistophersen and The Straw. 1919 They remain in New Jersey until May, when they move to the lifesaving station at Peaked Hill Bars, outside of Provincetown, which James and Ella O...