Eugene O'Neill and The Hairy Ape Background

Eugene O'Neill was born in New York City on October 16, 1888, to James and Ella O'Neill.
His father, James, was a successful touring actor, and his mother, Ella, traveled with him.
Eugene spent most of his childhood on the road, with summers in their home in New London, Connecticut.
He attended boarding schools and briefly studied at Princeton University in 1906-1907.

After leaving Princeton, O'Neill pursued what he called "life experience," including working at sea and living in destitution in various cities.
He struggled with alcoholism and attempted suicide before beginning to recover at age twenty-four.
He worked as a reporter until illness forced him to quit and spend six months in a sanitarium.
During his recovery, O'Neill studied playwriting at Harvard under George Pierce Baker from 1914 to 1915.

In 1916, O'Neill debuted with "Bound East for Cardiff" at a Provincetown, MA, playhouse.
He continued with the Provincetown Players in Greenwich Village and made his Broadway debut with "Beyond the Horizon" in 1920.
O'Neill won four Pulitzer Prizes for drama during his career, including for "Beyond the Horizon," "Anna Christie," "Strange Interlude," and "Long Day's Journey into Night."
He was also the first American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

O'Neill's plays reflect on the tragedy of the human condition and delve into serious social issues.
He transformed American theater by bringing psychological depth, poetic symbolism, and expressionistic techniques.
His use of symbolic devices and expressionistic techniques elevated American drama to a new level of seriousness.

In his later years, O'Neill battled a debilitating nervous disorder and passed away in 1953.
He is considered one of the greatest American playwrights, known for his profound impact on theater and literature.

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