Eugene O'Neill by Clifford Leech (review)

472 MODERN DRAMA February EUGENE O'NEILL, by Clifford Leech, Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1963, 120 pp. Price .95. This little booklet is part of a new series designed "to meet the need for inexpensive , up-to-date and readable introductions to the work of modern American, English and European writers." If one is seeking no more than this, executed in straightforward, competent fashion, then Mr. Leech's brief survey has supplied that need. If, however, one expects to find a helpful biography or a valuable review of significant O'Neill criticism, both suggested by the back cover comment, he will be keenly disappointed. Under the opening chapter, "Life and Earliest Writings," are found the short biography and a discussion of the one-act plays, including some of the embarrassingly bad creations O'Neill wished emphatically to forget. Fortunately, little time is spent with them. Then in subsequent chapters entitled "Early Realism," "Expressionism," "Extravagance," and "Recession," Leech summarizes in chronological order the plays he regards as of secondary importance, from Beyond the Horizon to Ah, Wilderness! Interspersed are three other chapters, "Achievement I," "Achievement II," and "Achievement III," which find Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra, The Iceman Cometh, and Long Day's Journey into Night to be dramas of permanent significance. With this judgment there can be little argument, although in Leech's manner of presentation some of O'Neill's achievements in such important milestones as Beyond the Horizon, The Emperor Jones, or The Great God Brown do not receive their deserved emphasis amidst the demonstration of the playwright's erratic and often discouraging unevenness in artistic skill. Mr. Leech admits that his work, originally published in England, could make no use of the Gelbs' monumental biography or the compendium by Oscar Cargill and others in O'Neill and His Plays. This is unfortunate; Leech's effort emerges seriously weakened for lack of important facts and critical summary represented by these two works. In view of the frequent reliance on Agnes Boulton 's memoirs, there are certain elements of Leech's review which could be markedly strengthened by contact with these and other later volumes. There is a handy chronology of O'Neill's published plays, followed by a list of those unpublished or destroyed. The bibliography, which should be so important in a book of this type, is of extremely limited value. While it lists the twelve major books on O'Neill, including the volumes not consulted, it names only eight articles from periodicals that the average American reader would have serious difficulty locating. Not a single piece is included from among the hundreds of important items published in easily accessible American periodicals throughout the fifty years that have elapsed since O'Neill's career began. As an inexpensive supplemental reference for students, this book has merit. If one is the least acquainted with O'Neill's life or works, or the books about him, it will offer nothing new. JORDAN Y. MILLER Kansas State University ...