Politics and Poetics in Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape (1921)
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Date
2016-09
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Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
This piece of research tackles the issues of politics and poetics in Eugene O’Neill’s The
Hairy Ape (1922). Politically speaking, O’Neill’s work could be classified in protest theatre
genre, as he intends to rebel against the established social order. The playwright describes
expulsion, migration, and exploitation of immigrants in 1920’s. To fulfill this aim O’Neill,
engages the American dialect as a weapon involving Greek culture and disclaiming
Capitalism, Darwinism, and Nativism prevailing in that period. In poetics, we have stressed
O’Neill’s appropriation of the Dionysian Myth and his modernization of the ancient
Aristotelian tragedy to suit the modern context. In order to reach our goal, we have brought
into use the artistic vision of politics and the tragic art of Friedrich Nietzsche developed in
his book The Birth of Tragedy (1872) which sought to democratize tragedy. The aim of this
effort is to make available both the effect of the social disorder, the meaninglessness of the
melting pot, and Nietzsche’s quest to revive tragedy upon O’Neill’s way of crafting his play.
This is done through following the IMRAD structure of writing memoirs. This research
have made available O’Neill’s way of protesting against the established orders to claim
democracy, establish his literary identity, appeal for the arrival of the overman in the real
world, and be himself an overman.
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Arts Dramatiques et Lettres Anglaise