Anna Christie

· Courier Dover Publications
4.0
2 reviews
eBook
64
Pages
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About this eBook

Early in his career, Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) wrote a series of plays revolving around characters obsessed with the sea. This period culminated in the 1922 production of Anna Christie, a Pulitzer Prize–winning drama of social realism that was among the first of the author's plays to explore characters searching for their own identities. Centering on the reunion of a barge captain and his daughter after a twenty-year separation, the play derives its tension from the former's disaffection for the seafaring life and the latter's love for a sailor. The father-daughter conflict elicits a shocking confession, which illuminates the author's contention that character is fate and the seemingly external forces controlling destiny actually lie within.
Anna Christie amply displays O'Neill's extraordinary insights into character and his masterly use of language, qualities that have earned him acclaim as one of America's greatest playwrights. Students and lovers of modern theater will prize this inexpensive edition of his landmark drama.

Ratings and reviews

4.0
2 reviews
PaxGaeaDave
14 October 2024
A long lost daughter and the Devil Sea Playwright #eugeneoneill introduced the two main characters in an earlier, less successful play but this rework, of a Swedish Barge Captain and his long lost daughter whom he had shipped off to the American countryside upon the death of his wife to remove her from the long tradition of Seamen married to long suffering wives proved more tragic for her than the mariner cycle of their forebearers. In the process, the play made its way to #broadway and was also the recipient of the #1922 #pulitzerprizefordrama which is what I was reading it as part of the #pulitzerprizereadingchallenge , O'Neill's second of four Pulitzer Prizes. As well as downloading the script to read, I also listened to an audible version which does give the reading fuller interpretation. What seems to be heading for a tragedy resolves humorously as the title character ultimately finds herself on the course of her ancestral predecessors. While dated and sexist, it fits the rough and tumble life of mariners of the time and received 177 performances at the #vanderbilttheatre on Broadway. As I am a sucker for Sea stories, I found it to be a fun read. #readtheworldchallenge #globalreadingchallenge #pulitzerprize
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About the author

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and four Pulitzer Prizes, Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953) is widely acknowledged as America's greatest playwright. Dover Thrift Editions of his works include Beyond the Horizon and Three Great Plays: The Emperor Jones, Anna Christie, and The Hairy Ape.

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