”Long Day's Journey Into Night" by Eugen O'Neill - a slightly disturbing read

 “Long Day's Journey into Night” by Eugene O’Neill:

Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as his finest work and is considered one of the all-time great classics of the 20th Century. It was first published in 1956 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

It is a family drama, an unrelenting tragedy in which each of its members – the father, the mother and the two sons – turn against each other and against themselves, driven by self-pity and self-hatred.

It takes place in the Connecticut home of the Tyrones and covers one day from around 8:30 in the morning to midnight. 

Every member of the family is addicted to something, the father and the sons to alcohol, the mother to morphine. 

In a spiraling conflict everyone constantly conceals their addiction, blames everyone else for their fate, resents all others, accuses and denies and occasionally shows half-hearted attempts at affection, encouragement and consolation. Within the strict confinements of their home they bounce between reality and illusion. Any statement by any party made might be contradicted or rendered meaningless a second later. 

A slightly disturbing read, albeit interesting. I am not tempted to go see a stage performance, though. 

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