“Eugene O'Neill and China” (Publication, 1979)
Year
1979
Text
Frenz, Horst. Eugene O'Neill and China. In : Tamkang review ; vol. 10, no 1-2 (1979). (One46)
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 (3)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1923 |
Hong, Shen. Yama Chao = Zhao Yanwang. In : Dong fang za zhi ; vol. 20, no 1-2 (1923). = In : Hong Shen xi qu ji. (Shanghai : Xian dai shu ju, 1933). [Geschrieben 1922]. Performance of The Yama Chao = Zhao Yanwang by Hong Shen. Adaptation of The emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill. Hong Shen played the main role. In the newspaper 'Ching bao' reported that the performance was a failure because the audience couldn't understand it and even regarded the actor as a maniac. Hong Shen : "Zhao Yanwang is intended to show that society should be held responsible for the sins of the individual. No one in the world is born morally good or bad. Both the good and the bad are products of their environment. Nor is there anyone who is perfectly good or absolutely bad, for human behavior is rather complicates. But why is Zhao like this ? If we can study his life story and the stories of people like him, we will find they might all have suffered seriously from maltreatment and unhappy experiences, especially when they were too young to resist." "The first scene is somewhat splendid – the language, in particular, is condensed and the dialogues are full of vitality. From the second scene on, he borrows the background and facts from Eugene O'Neill's The emperor Jones, such as circling in the forest, becoming delirious and seeing hallucinations and being chased with people beating the drums, and so on. Apart from the meaning of its subject matter, nothing else in the play is worthy of mention" Cheng Fu-tsai : Although Hong Shen is fiercely attacked for his imitation of O'Neill's play, his adaptation is undoubtedly a creation of his own rather than a mere mimicry of the American prototype. He has not just incorporated the expressionistic devices into his own play, but has striven to make the play represent and reflect the social and political situation of China in the 1920s. His attempt at externalizing the psychological fear of an escaped convict in modern Chinese drama is unmatched. Thus, the creation of The Yama Chao has achieved a certain degree of success in early modern Chinese drama. From one of Hong Shen's admissions it ensues that for eight scenes of the drama he utilized the 'background and the facts' from The emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill, and only the first scene, according to him, 'is essential, its style is cohesive and selective, the dialogue is impressive', hence, only this part of the drama is really original. The Yama Chao borrowed from its American prototype the theme of money, the division of scenes, the use of soliloquies and the psychological treatment of hallucinations in a forest setting. Act three is an adaptation of the forest scenes from The emperor Jones. The Yama Chao follows in scene division, motif, and technical devices. Hong Shen found O'Neill's symbolic treatment of social and individual ills in The emperor Jones congenial to his own purpose of staging social reform : the predominantly male cast in O'Neill's play attracted Hong Shen. Hong, Shen : "I am extremely disgusted at the male's impersonating female characters. It is perhaps because I have read too much of Freud's works on abnormal sexuality. Every time I see a man putting on the make-up of a woman, I really feel like having goose-pimples all over me. But I still want to stage a play, and consequently the only thing I can do is to write a play which does not require female characters at all. This is one of the reasons why I made up my mind to borrow the form of Eugene O'Neill's The emperor Jones when the subject-matter of The Yama Chao was decided upon". [In : Zhongguo hua ju yun dong wu shi nian shi liao ji. Tian Han [et al.] zhu. (Beijing : Zhongguo xi ju chu ban she, 1958). 中国话剧运动五十年史料集]. |
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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 | 1932.06.24 |
Letter from Eugene O'Neill to Frederic Carpenter. June 24 (1932). O’Neill admitted, that at one time he felt the need to grasp Oriental thought in order to acquire some philosophical background for his writings, did quite a lot of reading in Oriental philosophy and religion but did not make an intensive study of the field. The letter concludes with the revealing statement : "The mysticism of Lao-tse and Chuang-Tzu probably interested me more than any other Oriental writing." |
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Cited by (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2000- | Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich | Organisation / AOI |
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