Publication
Yale University Press (2006), Edition: unknown, 219 pages
Original publication date
1946
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Description
A critical edition of O�Neill�s most complex and difficult play, designed for student readers and performers This critical edition of Eugene O�Neill�s most complex and difficult play helps students and performers meet the work�s demanding cultural literacy. William Davies King provides an invaluable guide to the text, including an essay on historical and critical perspectives; extensive notes on the language used in the play, and its many musical and literary allusions; as well as numerous insightful illustrations. He also gives biographical details about the actual people the characters are based on, along with the performance history of the play, to help students and theatrical artists engage with this labyrinthine work.
User reviews
LibraryThing member richardderus
Rating: get real. It's a play.
The Publisher Says: Eugene O’Neill was the first American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He completed The Iceman Cometh in 1939, but he delayed production until after the war, when it enjoyed a long run of performances in 1946 after receiving mixed
My Review: Plays, blech.
This cheery little bagatelle expresses beautifully (as in, with lovely, sonorous sentences) the pointlessness, uselessness, and worthlessness of modern life. Humans are a scourge upon the earth, venal and vicious and horrifyingly stupid, and should all drink themselves to death as rapidly as possible. Redemption is futile. Look where it got whatsisname, the soberest one.
All I can say is that it's a damn good thing that I've got a case of cheap scotch in the liquor cabinet. I ain't comin' up for air until my "check liver" light comes on.
The Publisher Says: Eugene O’Neill was the first American playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He completed The Iceman Cometh in 1939, but he delayed production until after the war, when it enjoyed a long run of performances in 1946 after receiving mixed
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reviews. Three years after O'Neill's death, Jason Robards starred in a Broadway revival that brought new critical attention to O’Neill’s darkest and most nihilistic play. In the half century since, The Iceman Cometh has gained enormously in stature, and many critics now recognize it as one of the greatest plays in American drama. The Iceman Cometh focuses on a group of alcoholics and misfits who endlessly discuss but never act on their dreams, and Hickey, the traveling salesman determined to strip them of their pipe dreams.My Review: Plays, blech.
This cheery little bagatelle expresses beautifully (as in, with lovely, sonorous sentences) the pointlessness, uselessness, and worthlessness of modern life. Humans are a scourge upon the earth, venal and vicious and horrifyingly stupid, and should all drink themselves to death as rapidly as possible. Redemption is futile. Look where it got whatsisname, the soberest one.
All I can say is that it's a damn good thing that I've got a case of cheap scotch in the liquor cabinet. I ain't comin' up for air until my "check liver" light comes on.
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LibraryThing member Laura1124
This is a hard play to recommend but it probably should be read by all for the depiction of an era and its exploration of difficult subject matter. I saw Eugene O'Neill's one act, two-man play, "Hughie," a couple of years ago and expected it to be bleak, which it was. But it was strangely riveting
Iceman is a long play but it is worth investing the time. Apparently, it is rarely performed as it runs 4.5 hours but it seems to read much faster than that. The Library of Congress listed it among its "Books That Shaped America." The play explores the international labor movement in the early 20th century, which is just one of the pipe dreams. The other delusions are the ones harbored by the individual characters who are living in the saloon -- afraid and now likely incapable of leaving it. The Iceman, a character named Hickey, is another of their delusions as they anxiously await his arrival, which usually brings with it a lot of laughs. This time it is different.
The saloon, called Harry Hope's, is based upon a real place called, "Jimmy-the-Priest's" that existed in the East Village and it figures in another O'Neill play. O'Neill really lived this life and so writes from experience. The portrayal seems over the top today but is likely not too far from cheap gin mill reality in 1912. In the end, I couldn't rate Iceman with five stars because I couldn't love it that much. But the blending of fantasy and reality and pathos in the bar have a way of staying with you and I'm still thinking about it.
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at the same time. That play like The Iceman explores delusions and, what O'Neill repeatedly calls pipe dreams. It also provides a picture of a time and place, which is the down and out side of early 20th century New York City. Reading a little bit about O'Neill was helpful to understand what drove him to write -- addiction, delusions and fear of facing life figure into so much of his work. In Iceman, the roles and lines of the characters are comical, pathetic and sympathetic all at once. It is a disturbing dose of reality that you can't put down. The characters have accents and say things like, "distoibed" and "soivice" and call each other louses and the like. While it's difficult to fully relate to the characters and take them seriously, you still hold out hope for them and want to see how it can possibly conclude.Iceman is a long play but it is worth investing the time. Apparently, it is rarely performed as it runs 4.5 hours but it seems to read much faster than that. The Library of Congress listed it among its "Books That Shaped America." The play explores the international labor movement in the early 20th century, which is just one of the pipe dreams. The other delusions are the ones harbored by the individual characters who are living in the saloon -- afraid and now likely incapable of leaving it. The Iceman, a character named Hickey, is another of their delusions as they anxiously await his arrival, which usually brings with it a lot of laughs. This time it is different.
The saloon, called Harry Hope's, is based upon a real place called, "Jimmy-the-Priest's" that existed in the East Village and it figures in another O'Neill play. O'Neill really lived this life and so writes from experience. The portrayal seems over the top today but is likely not too far from cheap gin mill reality in 1912. In the end, I couldn't rate Iceman with five stars because I couldn't love it that much. But the blending of fantasy and reality and pathos in the bar have a way of staying with you and I'm still thinking about it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
Probably my favorite play of all time, this story draws you in despite yourself. It starts slowly, and you often don't know whether to pity or become angry with the characters, but it is a tragic and beautiful picture of a struggling group of men regardless. You have to take time reading it because
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of the number of characters, but you'll probably be glad you did if you can keep your patience in the beginning. It is laughable at times, and engaging and heartbreaking at once, but never sentimental. Show Less
LibraryThing member robertmorrow
My favorite O'Neill work, with great intensity and sharp commentary on the emptiness of the American dream for so many.
LibraryThing member bookworm12
This sad saga chronicles a group of drunks who meet up at a local saloon. They are full of big dreams for the future, but anyone who knows them knows that they are all talk and no action. Each man has glossed over the story of his life in his own mind, leaving out the bad bits and chalk any
The patrons look up to a salesman named Hickman ("Hickey") who stops in when he can. During the first half of the play everyone gathers at the saloon for a birthday party and just waits for Hickey to arrive. When he finally gets there something is different about him and immediately everyone is concerned. He has lost his happy-go-lucky attitude. Hickey forces each of the individuals to reevaluate their lives and ask themselves whether they are truly trying to improve it.
The owner of the saloon, Harry Hope, watches the drama unfolds in his establishment. He is concerned by the direction in which Hickey’s “ideas” are steering everyone. In this world people embrace only the possibility of a better life, they never intend to take the steps that would actually lead to one, but it's that hope that keeps them going.
It’s hard to explain why this was such a powerful story to me. I think part of it is the context in which it was written. It was published in 1940, and written during the Great Depression, a time of disillusionment in America. It captures that feeling of hopelessness in such a palpable way. I could see each of the characters thinking about their “one day” plans and truly believing that those dreams were attainable.
BOTTOM LINE: This play paints a beautiful picture of the crumbling American dream. It asks the question, do people really want to reach their goals or is the fact that they have those dreams enough for them? There’s something to be said for having a distant hope, especially for those living such desperate lives.
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failures up to someone else’s fault or a tragedy that befell him. The patrons look up to a salesman named Hickman ("Hickey") who stops in when he can. During the first half of the play everyone gathers at the saloon for a birthday party and just waits for Hickey to arrive. When he finally gets there something is different about him and immediately everyone is concerned. He has lost his happy-go-lucky attitude. Hickey forces each of the individuals to reevaluate their lives and ask themselves whether they are truly trying to improve it.
The owner of the saloon, Harry Hope, watches the drama unfolds in his establishment. He is concerned by the direction in which Hickey’s “ideas” are steering everyone. In this world people embrace only the possibility of a better life, they never intend to take the steps that would actually lead to one, but it's that hope that keeps them going.
It’s hard to explain why this was such a powerful story to me. I think part of it is the context in which it was written. It was published in 1940, and written during the Great Depression, a time of disillusionment in America. It captures that feeling of hopelessness in such a palpable way. I could see each of the characters thinking about their “one day” plans and truly believing that those dreams were attainable.
BOTTOM LINE: This play paints a beautiful picture of the crumbling American dream. It asks the question, do people really want to reach their goals or is the fact that they have those dreams enough for them? There’s something to be said for having a distant hope, especially for those living such desperate lives.
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LibraryThing member DanielSTJ
I expected this to be a lot better.
LibraryThing member mkfs
Re-read this recently, for probably the first time since the 80s. At first it's okay, set in a flophouse populated by the same types one encounters day-drinking at dive bars, though the slang is painfully of its time. Then the moralizing starts, and it gets to be real boring real quick. The twist
One of those plays that peaks at the title.
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ending is telegraphed far in advance, and doesn't really add anything to the story or the characters.One of those plays that peaks at the title.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0300117434 / 9780300117431
Physical description
219 p.; 5 inches
Pages
219