O'Neill, Eugene

Eugene O'Neill allgemein.
The Eugene and Carlotta O'Neill Library. Special Collections. C.W. Post Campus / Long Island University, Brookville, New York
www2.liu.edu Phyllis. Ritual bronzes of ancient China [ID D28786]. [Signed Carlotta Monterey O'Neill, 28.12.1945 New York].
Binyon, Laurence. The flight of the dragon [ID D28761]. [Signed Eugene O'Neill].
Bland, John Otway Percy ; Backhouse, E. China under the empress Dowager [ID D2870].
Boerschmann, Ernst. Picturesque China [ID D446].
Brinkley, Frank. Japan and China [ID D28783].
Chuang Tzu : mystic, moralist, and social reformer. Translated from the Chinese by Herbert A. Giles [ID D7731].
Creel, Herrlee Glessner. The birth of China [ID D9969].
Crosby, Oscar Terry. Tibet and Turkestan [ID D2766]. [Signed Carlotta Monerey, 1927].
Fung, Yu-lan [Feng Youlan]. A history of Chinese philosophy [ID D10069]. [Signed by Carlotta Monterey O'Neill, Boston Dec. 2 1952].
Douglas, Robert K. China [ID D2443].
Grantham, A[lexandra] E[thelred]. Hills of blue [ID D28779].
Hill, A.P. Broken China [ID D28792]. [Signed Eugene O'Neill & Carlotta Monterey, Shanghai 1928].
Hobson, Robert Lockhart. Chinese art [ID D28784].
Hsiung, Shih-i [Xiong Shiyi]. Wang Pao-chuan : Lady precious stream [ID D28788].
Lao-tzu. Tao-tê-ching : Lao-tzu's tao and wu wei. Transl. by Dwight Goddard [ID D28778].
Johnson, Reginald Fleming. Twilight in the forbidden city [ID D3330].
Li, Po. The works of Li Po, the Chinese poet, done into English verse by Shigeyoshi Obata [ID D13279].
Lin, Yutang. The importance of living [ID D14759]. [Mr. & Mrs. Eugene O'Neill – compliments & warmest regards from Ling Yutang, Nov. 25, 1937].
Lin, Yutang. My country and my people [ID D13801].
Mowrer, Edgar Ansel. Mowrer in China [ID D8748]. [To Mr. & Mrs. Eugene O'Neill, this slight testimony of a great admiration. Edgar A. Mowrer].
Norton, Henry Kittredge. China and the powers [ID D28455]. [Signed Carlotta Montery, April 27 1927].
Nott, Stanley Charles. Chinese jade throughout the ages [ID D28785]. [[Inscribed : To Carlotta - with all my love ! Gene, Lafayette July 37].
Payne, Pierre Stephen Robert. Forever China [ID D28781]. [Signed Carlotta Monerey O'Neill, New York Febr. 19th].
Reid, John Gilbert. The Manchu abdication and the powers, 1908-1912 [ID D28780].
The sacred books of China : the texts of Taoism. Transl. by James Legge [ID D2559].
Sherap, Paul. . Tibetan on Tibet [ID D28782]. [Signed Carlotta Monterey, 1927].
Smith, Arthur Henderson. Chinese caracteristics [ID D2512]. [Signed Carlotta Monterey, Oct. 1st 1921].
Sze, Mai-mai. Silent children : a novel. (New York, N.Y. : Harcourt, Brace, 1948). [Inscribed by the author : from Mai-mai, New York, March 3, 1948].
Werner, E.T.C. Myths and legend of China [ID D27281].
The wisdom of China and India. Ed. by Lin Yutang [ID D28787].
[Zhao, Ziyong]. Cantonese love-songs. Transl. by Cecil Clamenti [ID D28790]. [Signed Eugene O'Neill].

Sekundärliteratur
1982 / 1992
James A. Robinson : Any treatment of O'Neill's relationship to Oriental mysticism must begin with the catholic faith in which he was raised and confirmed. His indoctrination as a boy in the dominant religion in the Western world inadvertently prepared his for his interest as a man in Oriental mystical faiths. In the sacred texts of Taoism, O'Neill not only found confirmation of his own mystical intuition that a dynamic universal force (Tao by Laozi) united man and the universe but also discovered an encouraging variant of his own dualistic tragic vision as well.
1988 / 1992
Liu Haiping : 1949-1979, O'Neill's works were little read and there were no performances or new translations of any of his plays. O'Neill's name was almost forgotten in China. To Chinese scholars and critics, O'Neill represented an unexplored mystery ; his life and career, as well as his individual plays, all crammed and crowded with drama, seemed inexhaustible subjects for interpretation and reinterpretation. The knowledge that O'Neill attached great interest to Chinese history and culture and that Orientalism, especially Taoism, formed a distinctive aspect of his art further endeared him to Chinese readers and critics. As a result, the 1980s saw no fewer than one hundred-and fifty articles on O'Neill and his plays carried in various kinds of literary and theatre magazines.
1992
Virginia Floyd : The most significant single factor in O'Neill's early life, in that it affected his development personally and dramaturgically, was his rejection at age fifteen of Catholicism. His natural mystical nature was nurtured in later years by his selective reading of and developing understanding of Taoism. In the period when O'Neill sought a replacement for his lost faith, he turned to and found a meaning for existence in Laozi. The Chinese mystic continued to influence the author in the early 1920s, while he was recording notes for plays made prior to the period of his early research in 1925 for the projected work on Shi Huangdi. Recording new information on Taoism, O'Neill became fascinated by the female and male forces, the 'yin' and 'yang' principles, as they related to Taoism and by the way Laozi 'fused mysticism and pragmatism into a philosophy' through 'which he believed all men could discover their lives to be peaceful, useful and happy'. Although O'Neill never completed a scenario for 'Shi Huangdi', he continued his exploration of Taoism, working sporadically on this material from 1925 to 1934.
1992
Long Wenpei : I. The period between the 1920s and 1940s witnessed the first crest of popular interest in O'Neill in China. Among the plays translated and published, some fifty critical essays written about O'Neill appeared in Chinese newspapers and periodicals. Several critics looked upon him as 'a poet, an observer of human nature', who 'inspires man in his striving upward and to seek light even in crimes and insults'. Other critics observed that his plays were different from those written by Ibsen and Shaw, who portrayed their characters in terms of social relationships while O'Neill depicted his as isolated entities. Still others regarded O'Neill as 'an important promoter' in the history of American drama, who 'has smashed many of the set rules of the stage, but never violated the fundamental principles of drama.
II. The second period, the 1950s through the mid-1970s, saw O'Neill's popularity in temporary suspension in China. Because of the international political situation in the 1950s, the channels of cultural exchange between China and the West narrowed, and criticism of Western literature became biased. All contemporary Western writers whose works were not obviously directed against capitalism were largely ignored. O'Neill's plays were laid aside and neglected. None of his later plays were translated, nor were his critical essays published, to say nothing of producing his plays on the Chinese stage.
III. The third period, the late 1970s to the present, constitutes the second crest of O'Neill's popularity in China. During this period great changes took place in our objective and subjective worlds. The policy of openness and reform adopted by the Chinese government since 1979 has put an end to the period of a closed society and ushered in a new stage. Since then, China has been a scene of bustling activity in literary and art circles. With the improvement in Sino-American relations, cultural exchanges between the two countries, after more than twenty years of stagnation, have been revived. O'Neill fans once again have access to most of his plays and to research literature by scholars from various parts of the world. Riding the waves of this Sino-American rapprochement are a great number of Chinese artists and scholars who have either visited America or taken part in O'Neill conferences and symposiums. American experts and scholars also have visited China. O'Neill has been included in the curricula of Chinese universities. Wherever there is a course in American literature, there is a chapter for O'Neill ; and some universities offer 'O'Neill and contemporary American drama' as an elective course.
1994
Lee Sang-kyong : At the beginning of the 20th century a number of intellectuals of the Western world discovered the spiritual world of the East. They started to look for spiritual regeneration in the mysticism of Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism. O'Neill was no exception. Even in his youth he felt quite attracted by this spiritual direction and under the influence of theosophy he turned more and more towards Eastern mysticism. He became increasingly interested in philosophers and poets who had been inspired by the Eastern ideas and literature such as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Jung, Emerson, Strindberg, Yeats, Maeterlink, and Lafcadio Hearn. To deepen his knowledge in Eastern religions he began in the twenties to read books like 'Buddha and the gospel of buddhism' by Ananda K. Coomaraswany (London 1916), 'Six systems of Indian philosophy' by Max Müller (London 1919), and 'The texts of taoism' by James Legge. His deep interest is reflected in the content and form of his plays of the twenties, such as 'The fountain', 'Marco millions', 'The great god Brown', 'Lazarus laughed', and others. O'Neill's popularity in the Orient was probably due to the fact that structure and content of his dramas were strongly by Taoist spiritualism. The Orientals felt especially moved by the sensitive presentation of feelings, by his mysticism and the tragical conflict situations of his dramas.

Notebook 'Reincarnation' by Eugene O'Neill : "Idea for long play – reincarnation – oldest civilization, China 1850 – modern times during war – South Sea Island, 1975 – same crises offering a definite choice of either material success or a step toward higher spiritual plane – Failure in choice entails immediate reincarnation and eternal repetition in life on this plane until spiritual choice is made."

O'Neill, Eugene. Beyond the horizon : a play in three acts. (Provincetown, Mass. : 1918).
bartleby.com [Mayo]. "No, I oughtn't. You're trying to wish an eye-for-business on me I don't possess. Supposing I was to tell you that it's just Beauty that's calling me, the beauty of the far off and unknown, the mystery and spell of the East, which lures me in the books I've read, the need of the freedom of great wide spaces, the joy of wandering on and on—in quest of the secret which is hidden just over there, beyond the horizon ? Suppose I told you that was the one and only reason for my going ?"

Letter from Eugene O'Neill to Kenneth Macgown. Sept. 23 (1922).
O'Neill wrote, that his family's "plans for the winter remain chaotic. We will probably, in a fit of desperation wind up in China. I'd like that too, while Europe somehow means nothing to me."

Mao, Dun. [News of foreign literature]. In : Xiao shuo yue bao ; vol. 13, no 5 (1922).
"In drama, the new playwright Eugene O'Neill wins great popularity and deserves to be a genius in American theatre."
First mention of O'Neill in China.

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].

Yu, Shangyuan. Jin ri zhi Meiguo bian ju jia Aoni'er [ID D28770].
Yu discussed the introduction of Eugene O'Neill into China and gave brief synopses of a number of O'Neill's plays, including 'Beyond the horizon', 'The emperor Jones', 'Anna Christie', 'The hairy ape', and 'The first man'. He categorized them as plays ranging from symbolism, realism, psychology, and expressionism to the discussion of social problems and the portrayal of characters. In addition to summarizing the mentioned plays, Yu also tried his hand at assessing O'Neill's contribution to drama by commenting 'O'Neill's writing style as wee as his characters thrives with vitality. His dramatic technique is extraordinary and he always creates something new'. With Walt Whitman, American poetry can be seen as full-grown ; with O'Neill, true American theatre appears on the world stage'.

O'Neill, Eugene. Marco millions : a play [ID D28771].
Quelle : Polo, Marco. The book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian. Transl. and ed. by Henry Yule [ID D5467].
Bai Niu : In Marco millions, O'Neill utilizes the myth of Chinese characters to negate Western values. But since the motivation of the myth is the advocacy of change within the West, we find that O'Neill is reluctant to mythify the East to the extent of perpetuating the status quo of the West. As a result, here and there the real history of the Chinese characters breaks through the mythical confines. In this way, the use of myth helps create a complicated vision instead of a naïve contrast between the East and West.
O'Neill approached the Marco Polo story with an initial intention to satirize and criticize greedy American businessmen. In talking about his plans about Marco millions in his Selected Letters, O'Neill writes : 'The child will be either a surprising satiric Beauty – or a most gawdawful monster'.
O'Neill found the mythologization of Chinese elements an effective way to conduct his criticism, since myth by definition could conceal his motivation in such a way that his attack on American materialism could appear to be unquestionable and thus more powerful. All the central Chinese characters are apparently mythologized, representing values, Oriental wisdom, mysticism, and spirituality, opposed to the Polos' stupidity, superficiality, and materialism. In mythologizing the Chinese figures, O'Neill does offer some dynamics to the characterization of Marco Polo. The Chinese characters highlight Marco's material greed, insensitivity, ignorance, and triteness from three perspectives : Kublai's increasing mockery and criticism, Chu-Yin's disenchanted probe into his potential to change, and Kukachin's gradually intensified sense of disappointment, embarrassment, and despair. Between Kublai and Marco is a conflict between soul and flesh. As the emblem of Taoist doctrines, Chu-Yin is detached and only an observer of Marco. Kukachin's nor a non-conflict like Chu-Yin's ; it is a process passing from eager erotic involvement to total disengagement.
Marco is totally unaware of Kublai's cynicism and criticism. His rather consistent cocksureness reveals his ignorance of anything spiritual. He is so blinded by his single-minded pursuit of material wealth that he interprets other people's remarks strictly along material lines. Instead of making direct confrontations with Marco, Chu-Yin observes him from a distance. He advises Kublai to let Marco develop naturally by himself. He wants to probe this representative of the West and find out whether Marco can change so as to realize his potential for wisdom and to achieve harmony with Tao.
What Chu-Yin finally finds in Marco is all the qualities opposed to his Taoist doctrines. Serving as a foil, Marco's failure strengthens the validity and wisdom of Taoist thoughts. Another point of contrast illustrated through Chu-Yin is the distinction between humility and arrogance. Chu-Yin embraces the idea of humility.
Marco's world is entirely controlled by money. So far as he is concerned, one can measure love only with gold and view beauty only with a mirror made of pearls and silver.
Kukachin is another emblem of Oriental spiritual values, she contrasts Marco's triteness and insensitivity through her poetic nature and sensitivity. O'Neill accentuates the correlation between the quality of language and spirituality through the contrast between Kukachin and Marco, which is, first of all, an opposition between the poetic and prosaic. Kukachin's world is a poetic realm. She simply speaks poetry, while Marco is incapable of using any poetic diction, and even his 'poem' is imbued with monetary terms. For Kukachin, life is meaningless without love. If one realizes the spiritual value of love, for him or her, the difference between life and death is not that significant, if it exists at all. Kukachin is the only Chinese character who once had a positive impression of Marco. According to her own account, she had observed all Marco's instinctive, mostly unconscious, kind behaviors and innocent remarks and interpreted them as spiritual manifestations. In actuality, it was love that drove her to Marco's defence. She still believed in Marco's soul, and it was only two years later when the journey came to its end that she painfully realized that Marco was incorrigibly acquisitive, and to him, spirituality and sensitivity were incomprehensible foreign qualities.
Bayan, Kublai's general is basically a warmonger and cannot live in peace for an extended period of time. He becomes restless and helpless because 'everywhere in the East there is peace'. The only thing which would occupy him is war.
O'Neill's mythologization of the East has created a total negation of the West. Although this total negation fulfills O'Neill's intention to criticize the materialism of the West, it would rule out any possibility for reform, since the total negation is the real myth.
Lee Sang-kyong : The Taoist idea of a dualistic world becomes the essential characteristic of Marco millions. The dualism of all earthly phenomena finds its expression not only in the antithesis of male and female, life and death, to be or not to be. The Yin-Yang-principle of Taoism is also expressed in the Western and Eastern life styles such as the modest cheerfulness of the Eastern people and the rough pragmatic life struggle of the Western people. Through his occupation with the Orient, O'Neill was more and more convinced, that Oriental wisdom could offer a hopeful alternative to the Western world's materialistic society.
Marco Polo is the personification of the Western dream of materialistic success, and the Chinese empror Kublai Khan is very disappointed of Marco's materialistic attitude. The emperor seed in Marco – who is the representative of Christianity – the spiritual abnormity of the West, as O'Neill repeatedly discloses in the course of the plot. In a romantic romance with Kukachin, the granddaughter of Kublai Khan, Marco feels the magnetic power of the East. For him, wealth and power are more important than feeling. Even the Taoist wisdom of Chu-yin, the emperor's counselor, does mean anything to him. For him, the Orient's wisdom and beauty, embodied by Kublai Khan and Kukachin, are ridiculous and inconsistent. But Kublai, interested in the spiritual development of man, intends to initiate a dialogue about the existence of soul between one hundred wise men of the West and wise men of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Marco is only deeply impressed by the 'millions upon millions of worms' of the silk industry which could produce 'millions upon millions of capital'. O'Neill shows with irony the contrast between the Western materialism and ancient China's aestheticism during Marco Polo's time, pointing out the antithesis of the Westerners' materialistic greed and the mystic wisdom and splendor of Kublai Khan's court. He wants to show the fundamental difference between the Taoist East and the superficial and pragmatic Western civilization. The two opposite world views are represented by two characters : Marco Polo stands for materialism, rationalism, pragmatism, and Princess Kukachin is the living example of idealism and intuitive mysticism. Chu-yin, the counsellor is the only character who is untouched by all the events and remains in harmony with the teaching of Laozi and Zhuangzi.
Horst Frenz : O'Neill's interest in the East is most evident in Marco millions. The presentation of a mercantile Marco sent and sanctioned by the Pope as a wise man to represent the wisdom of the West to the East is full of irony. Marco is beyond redemption ; he is totally untouched by the spiritual beauty of Kukachin, the the Taoist wisdom of Chu-yin never reaches his philistine mine. The short exchange of remarks between Chu-yin, the subtle sage of China and Marco, the rash philistine emissary from Venice, sums up the difficulty of an understanding between East and West. The shallowness of the action-oriented West prevents Marco from comprehending the subtleties of the East whose wisdom lies in a quiet observance of the true course of nature, in an attitude of wise passiveness so characteristically Taoist. The scenes, in which Marco establishes a new tax system, introduces printed money, and discovers that gunpowder, up to now used by the Chinese only for fireworks, can be employed for destructive purposes, are filled with biting satire. In a remarkably subtle manner, O'Neill manages in various ways to point out the basically irreconcilable differences between Taoist wisdom and the superficiality of Western civilization.
James A. Robinson : Marco millions follows the lines of conventional Western tragedy, which assumes a dualistic universe of irreconcilable conflict – though here, rather than God or nature defeating man, it is West destroying East. Underlying the East-West conflict of the action is a similar conflict within O'Neill, whereby Western dualism ultimately triumphs over the harmonic view of the universe O'Neill discovered in Taoist thought. The play's Eastern elements represent the dramatist's suspicion that at the deepest level, man and world and cosmos were integrated and serene ; but his pessimistic modern-Western side seems reluctantly convinc4ed that man and universe are in hopeless conflict, a conflict reflected in the irreconcilable opposition of Oriental and Occidental cultures. The similar stage groupings and character types symbolize the profound identity between different cultures that makes understanding possible. The response of Marco emphasizes cross-cultural conflict. The farther he journey East – through lands whose mystical creed preach tolerance and renunciation – the more intolerant, ethnocentric and materialistic he becomes. As a prime 'example of virtuous Western manhood', Marco learns nothing from fifteen years in China, pointing up an apparently unbridgeable gap between East and West. His materialism intensifies. The relationship between Kukachin and Marco dramatizes the polarity of the conflict between East and West. Marco exudes intolerance, while Kukachin radiates the supreme tolerance of one who loves a totally different person. Marco loves the treasures of this world, while Kukachin transcends them. Kukachin, who is feminine, passive, and spiritual, corresponds to the 'yin' principle in Chinese thought. The Occidental Marco corresponds to 'yang', the masculine, rational and active principle. The monistic Taoist influence on the play extends to O'Neill's portrait of Kublai Kahn. The Emperor, called 'Son of heaven, Lord of the earth', harmonizes the masculine rationality and aggressiveness of the West, and the feminine intuition and passivity of the East. Khan's Taoist harmony is upset by Marco and his effect upon Kukachin. Only one Chinese character remains unperturbed, and consistently maintains the detachment of the Oriental sage : Chu Yin, Khan's advisor. His advice accords with the teaching of Laozi and Zhuangzi.
James S. Moy : O'Neill sought to contrast the obsessive materialism of a Babbitt-like character with a positive representation of a romanticized historical China. Despite the clear comic intent of the piece, one could assume that the Chinese world at least receive a 'positive', if not 'realistic', portrayal within this framework. O'Neill was successful in his satirical portrayal of the Venetian trading family, his use of the Orient proves problematic. His characterizations of the Chinese are intended to show subtle differences. In designing his imaginary marginality called China, O'Neill fell into the trap of stereotyping the Orient, thereby displacing/erasing the reality while China disintegrated into representation.
Li Gang : The Taoist influence in Marco millions has been studied by quit a few critics in both the East and the West. They all seem to agree that the Taoist influence permeates almost every aspect of the play : theme, structure, characterization, dialogue, and setting.

Wang, Duqing. Guo qing qian yi ri. In : Chuang zao yue kan ; vol. 2, no 4 (1928). [Before the national day]. 国庆前一日
The play is indebted to Eugene O'Neill's Before breakfast. The main difference between this play and its American model lies, as their titles suggest, in motifs : while O'Neill's play treats a domestic theme of love and hate between a married couple, its Chinese adaptation deals with a social and revolutionary subject. The basic form is exactly the same as that of Before breakfast : a monologue addressed to a non-speaking, unseen character in the next room. It borrows the form but tells a different story, and it lacks the passion, irony and psychological insight we find in O'Neill's play.

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'.

Zhang, Jiazhu. Aoni'er [ID D28772].
Editor's introduction : "O'Neill, the greatest modern American playwright, came to Shanghai on a tour recently. He was interviewed several times at his residence in a hotel by Zhang Jiazhu, who was kind enough to write for us the following article. It is basically a translation from B[arret] H. Clark, from which we can get some basic ideas and facts about the American playwright. It is our intention to include another article on O'Neill in the next issue of this magazine." [This article never appeared].
Zhang related how he had taken advantage of Eugene O'Neill's visit to China and interviewed him at his hotel in Shanghai for several times. Basing his article on B.H. Clark's essay, he gave a thorough introduction of the playwright, dealing with his life, his character, his artistic creation and his plays. In Particular, Zhang mentioned the role that O'Neill played in the Provincetown Players as well as the staging of some of his early plays, such as Bound East for Cardiff and Thirst. He also made mention of O'Neill's reputation in Europe and the production of his plays in Japan. Zhang asserts that Hong Shen's The Yama Chao is an adaptation of O'Neill's The emperor Jones.
Zhang Jiazhu a rencontré Eugene O'Neill vraisemblablement à plusieurs reprises, au cours du séjour à Shanghai en 1928. C'est à la suite de ces rencontres qu'il rédige son article. L'influence d'O'Neill s'est alors déjà largement répandue parmi les hommes de théâtre chinois. Après une description d'O'Neill, dépeint comme un personnage très observateur mais peu enclin à se livrer, Zhang se consacre à l'artiste et à sa biographie. L'artiste est présenté comme un poète, un observateur de la nature humaine qui conçoit la vie tout à la fois comme une tragédie et une aventure extraordinaire. O'Neill est aussi un auteur qui place ses exigences en matière de création au plus haut niveau. Son expérience de la vie et ses recherches constantes dans le domaine de l'expression théâtrale sont les deux points sur lesquels Zhang insiste plus particulièrement. Zhang ne place O'Neill dans aucun mouvement littéraire, considérant qu'il est en constante évolution. En cela, il suit l'opinion d'O'Neill lui-même qui dit à l'époque avoir encore beaucoup à apprendre. Pour preuve de l'inventivité du dramaturge, Zhang cite sa comédie Marco millions, qui vient d'être jouée en Chine pour la première fois avec succès, alors que la plupart des critiques dramatiques américains considéraient à cette époque O'Neill comme incapable d'écrire une comédie. Après une brève introduction admirative de Zhang pour l'homme et ses talents de dramaturge, l'article retrace de façon circonstanciée l'existence d'O'Neill (naissance, environnement familial, formation), mettant l'accent sur son parcours dans le monde dramatique et sa formation, de ses premiers essais en tant qu'acteur au prix Pulitzer accordé à Beyond the horizon, en passant par son travail avec les Players de Greenwich Village. Zhang s'attache surtout à montrer la recherché constant d'O'Neill ou les thèmes dont il traite. Ce qui l'intéresse, c'est O'Neill en tant qu'individu et surtout en tant que dramaturge, la façon dont il s'insère dans la société, son rapport aux hommes et au monde.

Bei xin ; vol. 3, no 8 (Shanghai : Bei xin shu ju, 1929).
Bei xin carried an account of Eugene O'Neill's life and creative career which had a brief editor's note connecting it with his recent visit to China. From then on, O'Neill's name bagan to appear in Chinese newspapers and magazines with increasing frequency. His plays were translated and published both in magazines and in book form, and were performed by both professional and amateur theatrical groups.

Note in Eugene O'Neill's dairy of May 3 to May 5.
He planned to write a Chinese play about Shi Huangdi, the emperor who was building the Great wall. He was probably fascinated by the emperor's quest for immortality. Unfortunately, he never wrote the play, only a sketch of the intended play is preserved in the Beinecke Library of Yale University.

Eugene O'Neill sailed to Shanghai on the S.S. 'André Lebon'. He noted an idea for a play called Unchartered sea, which would depict the romance between a beautiful young woman, apparently Chinese, of the East and an American poet from the West. They are viewed as pariahs by the prejudiced bourgeoisie. O'Neill writes of 'the conflict of races on board, the trend of the races of the world struggle today, the essential characteristics, the awakening of the East to the West'.

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Jialibisi zhi yue. Aoni'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Gu Youcheng yi. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1930). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. The moon of the Caribbees : a play in one act. In : Smart set ; vol. 55, no 4 (Aug. 1918). = The moon of the Caribbees. In : O'Neill, Eugene. The moon of the Caribbees and six other plays of the sea. (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1919). [Geschrieben 1917 ; Uraufführung 20. Dez. 1918 Playwrights' Theatre New York].
加力比斯之月

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Tian wai. Aonai'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Gu Youcheng yi. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1933). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Beyond the horizon : a play in three acts. (Provincetown, Mass. : 1918). [Manuskript]. = In : The plays of Eugene O'Neill. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1919). = (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1920). [Geschrieben 1918 ; Uraufführung 2. Febr. 1920, Morosco Theater, New York].
天外

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Kalipu zhi yue. Aoni'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Qian Gechuan yi. (Shanghai : Zhong hua shu ju, 1935). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. The moon of the Caribbees : a play in one act. In : Smart set ; vol. 55, no 4 (Aug. 1918). = The moon of the Caribbees. In : O'Neill, Eugene. The moon of the Caribbees and six other plays of the sea. (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1919). [Geschrieben 1917 ; Uraufführung 20. Dez. 1918 Playwrights' Theatre New York].
卡列浦之月

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Qi yi de cha qu. Wang Shiwei yi. (Shanghai : Zhong hua shu ju, 1936). (Shi jie wen xue quan ji). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Strange interlude : a play. (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1928). [Uraufführung 1928, Guild Theatre, John Golden Theatre, New York].
奇異的插曲

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Yue ming zhi ye. Aoni'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Huang Hu yi. (Shanghai : Qi ming shu ju, 1937). (Shi jie xi ju ming zhu ; 1). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Ah, wilderness. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1933). [Uraufführung 2. Okt. 1933, Guild Theatre, New York].
月明之夜

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Tian wai. Aonai'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Gu Youcheng yi. (Shanghai : Shang wu yin shu guan, 1933). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Beyond the horizon : a play in three acts. (Provincetown, Mass. : 1918). [Manuskript]. = In : The plays of Eugene O'Neill. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1919). = (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1920). [Geschrieben 1918 ; Uraufführung 2. Febr. 1920, Morosco Theater, New York].
天外

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Hong fen piao ling. Aonier zhu ; Wang Sizeng yi. (Nanjing : Du li chu ban she, 1945). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Strange interlude : a play. (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1928). [Uraufführung 1928, Guild Theatre, John Golden Theatre, New York]. [Enthält nur 5 statt 9 Akte].
紅粉飄零

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Da di zhi ai : san mu ju. Gu Zhongyi zhu. (Shanghai : Yong xiang yin shu guan, 1946). (Wen xue xin kan ; 3). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Beyond the horizon : a play in three acts. (Provincetown, Mass. : 1918). [Manuskript]. = In : The plays of Eugene O'Neill. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1919). = (New York, N.Y. : Boni and Liveright, 1920). [Geschrieben 1918 ; Uraufführung 2. Febr. 1920, Morosco Theater, New York].
大地之愛 : 三幕劇

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Anna Guisidi. Aonier zhuan ; Nie Miao yi. (Shanghai : Gai ming shu dian, 1948). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Anna Christie : a play in four acts. (Auckland : Floating Press, 1921). [Uraufführung Vanderbilt Theatre, New York, 2. Nov. 1921].
安娜桂絲蒂

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Meinong shi jia. Aoni'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Zhu Meijun yi. (Shanghai : Zheng zhong shu ju, 1948). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Mourning becomes Electra : a trilogy. (New York, N.Y. : Liveright, 1931). [Uraufführung Guild Theatre, 26. Okt. 1931].
梅農世家

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Bei dao. Aoni'er zuo ; Huang Wu yi. (Shanghai : Chen guang chu ban gong si, 1949). (Chen guang shi jie wen xue cong shu ; 15). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Mourning becomes Electra : a trilogy. (New York, N.Y. : Liveright, 1931). [Uraufführung Guild Theatre, 26. Okt. 1931].
悲悼

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Su e yuan. Aoni'er [Ounai'er] zhu ; Wang Jingyi yi. (Xianggang : Jin ri shi jie she, 1968). (Meiguo wen xue ming zhu yi cong). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Mourning becomes Electra : a trilogy. (New York, N.Y. : Liveright, 1931). [Uraufführung Guild Theatre, 26. Okt. 1931].
素娥怨

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Ounai'er xi ju xuan ji. Yan Yingyou deng yi. (Taibei : Jing sheng wen wu gong ying gong si, 1970). (Danjiang xi yang xian dai xi ju yi cong. Jing sheng bian yi wen ku).
歐奈爾戲劇選集
Enthält : Qiongsi huang di. Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. The Emperor Jones. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1920). [Uraufführung 1. Nov. 1920, Playwrights' Theater, New York]. 瓊斯皇帝
Huang ye. Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Ah, wilderness. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1933). [Uraufführung 2. Okt. 1933, Guild Theatre, New York]. 荒野
Anna Kelisidi. Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Anna Christie : a play in four acts. (Auckland : Floating Press, 1921). [Uraufführung Vanderbilt Theatre, New York, 2. Nov. 1921].

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Chang ye man man lu tiao tiao. Aonier ; Qiao Zhigao [Kao George] yi. (Xianggang : Jin ri shi jie chu ban she, 1973). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Long day's journey into night. (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, 1956). [Geschrieben 1941 ; Uraufführung 2. Febr. 1956, Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm].
长夜漫漫路迢迢

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Ounai'er xi ju xuan ji : Ri mu tu yuan. Guo Boxin, Chen Yuxiu he yi. (Taibei : Jing sheng wen wu gong ying gong si, 1973). (Danjiang xi yang xian dai xi ju yi cong. Jing sheng bian yi wen ku). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Long day's journey into night. (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, 1956). [Geschrieben 1941 ; Uraufführung 2. Febr. 1956, Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm].
歐奈爾戲劇選集日暮途遠

O'Neill, Eugene. Mao yuan. Huang Hu yi. Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. The hairy ape. (New York, N.Y. : Boni & Liveright, 1922). In : Wai guo xian dai pai zuo pin xuan. Vol. 1 [ID D16726]. [Uraufführung Provincetown Players, Broadway 1922].
毛猿

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Huang ye. Youjin Aoni'er yuan zhu ; Zou Shupin fan yi ; Cai Xichang yan chu ben. (Xianggang : Xianggang hua ju tuan, 1981). ([Xianggang hua ju tuan ju ben ; 27]. Xianggang hua ju tuan ju mu., 1980-1981). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Ah, wilderness. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1933). [Uraufführung 2. Okt. 1933, Guild Theatre, New York].
荒野

[O'Neill, Eugene]. Man chang de lü cheng. Yu shu xia de lian qing. Youjin Aoni'er zhu ; Ouyang Ji, Jiang Jia, Jiang Hongding yi. (Changsha : Hunan ren min chu ban she, 1983). Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Long day's journey into night. (New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, 1956). [Geschrieben 1941 ; Uraufführung 2. Febr. 1956, Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm]. Übersetzung von O'Neill, Eugene. Desire under the elms. (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1924). (Provincetown-Greenwich plays). [Uraufführung 11. Nov. 1924, Greenwich Village Theatre, New York].
漫长的旅程 ; 榆树下的恋情

[Gassner, John]. Eugene O'Neill. Chen Zuwen yi. (Taibei : Xue sheng ying wen za zhi she, 1978). (Meiguo zuo jia zhuan ji). Übersetzung von Gassner, John. Eugene O'Neill. (Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 1965).
尤金歐尼爾

Meiguo wen xue. = American literature. 1987. Shandong da xue. (Shandong : Shandong da xue chu ban she, 1987).
美国文学.
[Enthält] :
Hemingway, Ernest. In another country. Zhan Jian yi.
Cather, Willa. The sculptor's funeral. Bi Bingbin yi.
Malamud, Bernard. Four stories. Zhao Zhongyuan [et al.].
Warren, Robert Penn. Wilderness. Jin Xuefei yi.
Bellow, Saul. What kind of day did you live ? Yuan Yuan, Qi Zhiying yi.
Updike, John. Of the farm. Wang Zhikui yi.
James, Henry. The turn of the screw. Yu Xin yi.
Whitman, Walt. The centenarian's story. Zhao Luorui yi.
Huang, Jiade. Eugene O'Neill and his play Gold.
Yang, Qishen. Introduction to the Chinese edition of "A handbook of American literature"
Ouyang, Ji. Eugene O'Neill: founder of modern American drama.
Guo, Jide. American drama after World War II.
Wang, Yugong. Revieving "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd".
Meng, Xianzhong. Style of Carl Sandburg's poetry.
Luo, Gouyuan. A comment on Henry Denker's novel "Error of judgement".

[Bowen, Croswell]. Youjin Aoni'er zhuan : kan ke de yi sheng. Keluosiwei'er Bao'en zhu ; Sha'en Aoni'er xie zhu ; Chen Yuan yi ; Nie Zhenxiong jiao ding. (Hangzhou : Zhejiang wen yi chu ban she , 1988). (Wai guo zuo jia zhuan ji cong shu). Übersetzung von Bowen, Croswell. The curse of the misbegotten : a tale of the house of O'Neill. With the assistance of Shane O'Neill. (New York, N.Y. : McGraw-Hill, 1959).
尤金奧尼尔传 坎坷的一生