Eugene has graduated from high school and spent a summer of drinking/whoring around with his brother, 10 years old, while their parents are in London, England.
Eugene enters Princeton University in the fall of 1906.
He was suspended that next spring (1907) after he failed to take his final exams. He returns to New London.
Influence of other writers, particularly Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville. O'Neill probably discovered Melville before anyone else did.
Girlfriend becomes pregnant; they marry; he abandons her.
Nice description of sailing at the time.
His first real ocean-going ship: Charles Racine, a Norwegian clipper. Fifty years from the past. June, 1910. Eugene was 21.
Clipper ships first developed in the early 1840s but quickly disappearing by the advent of the Civil War. So, we're talking 1840 - 1860, in round numbers.
[Pony Express: 18 months in operation, 1859- 1861 time-frame.]
Autumn of 1914, p. 87 -- playwriting course at Harvard; one year.
Up until now:
New London
one year at Princeton
NYC, bohemian
married, one child, divorced
several years at sea
Harvard for one year to learn to write plays
bounced around New London and NYC; he wanted to leave NYC; did not want to return to New London
A friend convinced him to follow him to Provincetown, MA -- at the tip of Cape Cod.
History, description of Provincetown.
Arrival in Provincetown, 1916.
Bermuda.
Hollywood.
The plays.
So, the book is roughly divided into thirds, maybe fourths.
If thirds:
- Early life and the sea.
- Learning to write, Provincetown, Bermuda.
- His plays.
- Early life and relationship with family early on.
- Live at sea.
- Learning to write, Provincetown, Bermuda.
- His plays.
No comments:
Post a Comment