“Taoism in O'Neill's Tao house plays” (Publication, 1988)
Year
1988
Text
Liu, Haiping. Taoism in O'Neill's Tao house plays. In : The Eugene O'Neill newsletter ; vol. 12, no 2 (1988).
http://www.eoneill.com/library/newsletter/xii-2/xii-2g.htm. (One39)
http://www.eoneill.com/library/newsletter/xii-2/xii-2g.htm. (One39)
Type
Publication
Mentioned People (1)
O'Neill, Eugene
(New York, N.Y. 1888-1953 Kap Cod bei Boston) : Dramatiker, Nobelpreisträger
Subjects
Literature : Occident : United States of America
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References / Sources
Chronology Entries (4)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1922-1925 | Eugene O'Neill made an extensive study of Chinese history, religion, art and poetry in preparation for his composition of Marco millions. |
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| 2 | 1928.11.06-1928.12.12 |
Eugene O'Neill in China. Eugene O'Neill went together with Carlotta Monery, (who later became his third wife, July 22, 1929), first to Europe and then to the Far East, following Marco Polo's route of 1271. They arrive in Hong Kong Nov. 6 and reach Shanghai Nov. 9. They kept their arrival in Shanghai as a secret, but a few days later, Nov. 22, 1928, Alfred Batson, reporter of the North China daily news wrote : "Arriving in Shanghai with his characteristic aversion to publicity, Eugene O'Neill has been recuperating in a local hotel from a severe indisposition contracted recently in Singapore by underestimating the force of the sun's rays while bating". After discussing Strange interlude as 'daring innovation' in playwriting, Batson talked about a few earlier play, briefly sketches O'Neill's career, and concluded : "The world trip was taken to establish new contacts and see more of life under varied conditions. While in Shanghai he is anxious to live quietly and to regain his health…" He registered at the Astor House Hotel. One report held that he announced to his fellow drinkers that he was Eugene O'Neill the playwright and didn't care who knew it. He was sick and tired of traveling and was missing for about two weeks. When he was found, he was deathly ill from alcohol and a bad case of bronchitis. O'Neill was taken to a hospital of Shanghai for treatment and placed in the hands of Dr. Alexander Renner, an Austrian psychiatrist. On December 10, news of his illness was flashed around the world. The New York Times reported on Dec. 11 that he was 'improved'. By this time, he was undergoing treatment in his hotel room in the Astor House. A Chinese student visited him in the hospital and brought him a wooden statue of a Chinese goddess as a gift. O'Neill kept this figurine as a talisman for the rest of his life. O'Neill described the trip to China as 'the dream of his life', and as 'infinitely valuable' to his future work. The China experience had 'done a lot for his soul'. Forty, he said, was the 'right age to begin to learn. I have regained my sanity again'. He did not find the expected 'peace and quiet' in Shanghai, and the trip, he felt, left in his mind 'a million impressions' that were hard to digest. He was 'deadly ill of being a public personage' and being written about by 'the murderous reporters'. He left the Astor House on December 12 and was traveling as 'the reverend William O'Brien' on the German steamer 'Koblenz'. |
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| 3 | 1936 | Eugene O'Neill and Carlotta talked with Somerset Maugham at their home 'Casa Genotta' on Sea Island, about the possibility of making another trip to China and he ordered a book about Beijing, that had been recommended by Maugham. |
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| 4 | 1937-1944 |
Eugene O'Neill in Tao House, California. Liu Haiping : O'Neill built a new home in California and named it 'Tao House'. It faced eastward, with black Chinese tile on the roof, bright Chinese red paint on all the windows and interior doors, and a Chinese-style brick walk twisting and winding behind, 'to ward off devils'. The naming of Tao House was the result of his long study of the intellectual and spiritual ideas of the East. The house is filled with Chinese motifs and décor. In O'Neill's late plays written at Tao House, Taoism becomes, more than any other philosophical or religious system, an integral part of their ideas, style and structure. The Tao House was more than just a name for a home, it meant a way of life and a mansion for his soul. The eight years he spent at the isolated Tao House were very much like those of a Taoist hermit striving for full wisdom in secluded meditation. It is obvious that when O'Neill wrote his final plays, the Taoist ideas he embraced were no longer something he just copied, but something he had long pondered and even personally experienced. Taoism is now softly infused into the ideas, characterization, style and structure of these plays. The element of Taoism contained one of the basic qualities that make these works uniquely distinct from the author's earlier work and make them even 'existentially' modern today. One salient characteristic of all his late plays is the interfusion and indenticalness of contraries, which results in rich ambiguity in their style, characterization and themes. These dramas display a curious mixture of past and present, comedy and tragedy. The plays echoes a very unique notion of Taoist teaching, especially that of Zhuangzi. The notion of the relativity of all values and the identity of contraries ties in with the traditional Chinese symbolism of Yin and Yang. It sums up all of life's basic oppositions : shady-sunny, female-male, negative-positive, evil-good, death-life etc. In Taoist perspective, life and death are not in opposition but are merely two aspects of the same reality. Death is seen as the natural result, and also a new beginning of life. In his late plays, O'Neill adopted a similar attitude. Death is something natural, to be neither feared nor desired. O'Neill's rejection in his late plays of dualism, especially that of dream and reality, recalls what is probably the most famous parable about dream and wakefulness in the Taoist tradition. |
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