Eugene Gladstone O'Neill

American playwright. Born in New York City on October 16, 1888. Both parents were of Irish descent. As his father was a popular traveling actor, his family had no permanent home apart from a summer home, and he attended boarding school from an early age. In his mid-teens, he discovered that his beloved mother was addicted to morphine, and, influenced by his prodigal older brother, he rebelled against established religions and spent his lonely youth reading Swinburne and Nietzsche. After dropping out of Princeton University after one year in 1907, he took on odd jobs, traveled to South America as a sailor, and spent his days drinking in cheap bars in New York, continuing his reckless wanderings and even attempting suicide. In 1912, he spent time in a sanatorium to treat his tuberculosis, and resolved to settle his past and become a playwright. In 1914, he studied playwriting under Professor Baker at Harvard University, and in 1916, inspired by the European modern drama movement, he joined the Provincetown Theatre Company, which aimed to innovate theatrical productions by rejecting established commercial theater, and attracted attention with his play "East to Cardiff." After making his debut on Broadway with "Beyond the Horizon" (1920), he produced a series of controversial works that applied various European forms of expression, contributing to the establishment and development of American modern drama at the dawn of its time. These include the realistic psychological dramas "Anna Christie" (1921) and "Desire in the Shade of the Elms" (1924), as well as the expressionist works "The Emperor Jones" (1920), "The Hairy Ape" (1922), and "All God's Children Have Wings" (1924). In order to delve into the subtleties of human psychology, he advocated a "supernaturalism" that went beyond realism, and invented his own techniques, such as the use of masks, asides he called "spoken thoughts," and the appearance of doubles. Influenced by Strindberg, his subjects were autobiographical, and he liked to take up the love and hate between husband and wife and between parents and children, but his main focus was on depicting modern people who had lost sight of God and were internally divided, struggling and suffering against fate in search of a place of peace. He also tried to find human salvation in the faith of love and forgiveness in "The Great God Brown" (1926), the mother of the earth, in "Lazarus Laughs" (1928), a Nietzschean superman, in "Strange Interludes" (1928), which was heavily influenced by Freudian psychology, and in "Electra in Mourning" (1931), which attempted to revive Greek tragedy for the modern age, and in "Endless Days" (1934), he tried to find human salvation in faith in love and forgiveness. However, after his only comedy, The Wilderness (1933), his physical strength began to decline, and he conceived a massive series of plays that questioned American history, but left it unfinished.

In his later years, he produced realistic works that sought themes from the past. In The Iceman Comes (1946), he looked sympathetically at the chaotic human world, and in his posthumously published autobiographical play Long Day's Journey Into Night (1956), he offered deep insight into the tragic human condition in the modern world through the hopeless conflict between parents and siblings. In his posthumous work, The Moon Shines on the Shadows (1947), he shows reconciliation with the past and affection for the soul of his native Ireland in a romantic drama atmosphere. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936. He died in Boston on November 27, 1953.

[Kazuo Ichinose]

"O'Neill Masterpieces, translated by Tetsuo Kishi et al. (1975, Hakusuisha)" ▽ "The Moon Shining on the Shadows, translated by Tetsuo Kishi" (included in "British and American Theatre Today 1", 1968, Hakusuisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカの劇作家。1888年10月16日ニューヨーク市に生まれる。両親ともアイルランド系。父が旅回りの人気俳優であったため、一家には夏の別荘以外、定住する家がなく、幼時から寄宿学校に入学。10代なかばで最愛の母がモルヒネ中毒であることを知り、放蕩児(ほうとうじ)の兄からの影響もあって、既成宗教に反発し、スウィンバーンやニーチェなどを愛読する孤独な青春時代を送る。1907年、プリンストン大学を1年で退学後、雑多な仕事につき、船員として南アメリカに渡ったり、ニューヨークの安酒場で酒浸りの日々を送るなど、無頼な放浪を続け、自殺を図ったこともあった。12年、結核治療のため療養所生活を経験、過去を精算し劇作家になる決意を固める。14年、ハーバード大学のベーカー教授のもとで劇作を学び、16年、ヨーロッパ近代劇運動に刺激され、既成商業演劇を排し演劇革新を目ざすプロビンスタウン劇団に参加、『カージフ指して東へ』を発表し注目される。『地平の彼方(かなた)』（1920）でブロードウェーに進出後、ヨーロッパのさまざまな表現形式を応用した問題作を次々と発表、黎明(れいめい)期にあったアメリカ近代劇の確立と発展に貢献する。そのなかには写実心理劇的な『アンナ・クリスティ』（1921）、『楡(にれ)の木陰の欲望』（1924）、表現主義的な『皇帝ジョーンズ』（1920）、『毛猿』（1922）、『すべて神の子には翼がある』（1924）などがある。また微妙な人間心理に分け入るため、写実を超えた「超自然主義」を唱え、仮面の使用、「語られる思考」と名づけられた傍白、分身の登場など、独自の技法を編み出した。題材はストリンドベリの影響もあり、自伝的で、夫婦・親子間の愛憎を好んで取り上げたが、主眼は、神を見失い内的に分裂した現代人が、安住の場を求めて運命と闘い苦悩する姿を描くことにあった。そして、『偉大なる神ブラウン』（1926）では大地の母、『ラザロ笑いき』（1928）ではニーチェ的超人、フロイト心理学の影響が色濃い『奇妙な幕間(まくあい)狂言』（1928）とギリシア悲劇を現代によみがえらせようとした『喪服の似合うエレクトラ』（1931）では諦念(ていねん)、『終わりなき日々』（1934）では愛と許しの信仰に、人間の救済をみいだそうとした。しかし唯一の喜劇『ああ荒野』（1933）以後体力的に衰え、アメリカの歴史を問い直そうとする膨大な連作を構想したが、未完に終わった。

　晩年は過去に題材を求めて写実的な作品を手がけ、『氷人来たる』（1946）ではカオスとしての人間世界を同情をもって見つめ、死後発表された自伝劇『夜への長い旅路』（1956）では、親兄弟の絶望的な葛藤(かっとう)のなかに、現代世界における悲痛な人間状況への深い洞察をうかがわせた。遺作『日陰者に照る月』（1947）では、ロマンス劇的雰囲気のなかで過去への和解と故郷アイルランドの魂への愛惜をのぞかせている。1936年にノーベル文学賞を受賞。53年11月27日ボストンで没した。

［一ノ瀬和夫］

『喜志哲雄他訳『オニール名作集』（1975・白水社）』▽『喜志哲雄訳「日陰者に照る月」（『今日の英米演劇 1』所収・1968・白水社）』

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