Art Delivering Life

Eugene O'Neill is the founder of American modern tragedy. As a complicated and profound writer, O'Neill has been well nourished from different sources, especially from Nietzsche. Nietzsche's tragic thoughts are a tremendous influence on shaping O'Neill's tragic sense.Based on the analysis of O'Neill's plays, the present paper intends to explore Nietzsche's profound impacts, especially his thought of "art delivering life" on O'Neill. The thesis falls into nine parts.The introductory part serves as a historical review of Eugene O'Neill research both home and aboard. Meanwhile the aim and the significance of this dissertation are briefly explained.The second part is a general introduction to Nietzsche's tragic thoughts in four aspects, namely, tragic themes, tragic spirit, two impulses of tragic art and tragic effect. 1. His tragic themes cover from anti-religion to anti-Socratic rationalism. In Nietzsche's opinion, both Christianity and the Socratic are opponents of the tragic art. 2. Disappointed by the modern society, Nietzsche turns to the archaic Greeks to seek the remedy. He finds they embrace a "pessimism of strength" and redeem the world through art. 3. In his The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche highlights two impulses of art, the Apolline and the Dionysian, the two means for man to redeem from the horrible world. The former offers man a dreamy world to veil the intolerable life, and the latter, represented by intoxication and orgiastic revelry, convinces man of the eternal joy of existence by confirming every part of life. 4. The last is the tragic effect. Nietzsche proposes his noted "metaphysical comfort", a divergence from Aristotelian canon "catharsis". Based on the Dionysian art, the joy of life is not inthe phenomena, but behind them. The destruction of an individual is viewed as momentary but a potential foundation of an entire form of human existence.Part three illustrates O'Neill's approach to Nietzsche from his personal experiences and the social background respectively. O'Neill's agony of physical decline and family tragedy, and the era he lived in rampant with social malaise propel him to think acutely about the human tragedy and consequently find resonance in Nietzsche's works.The following four parts, from part four to part seven, are the main body of the whole thesis. By illustrating some of O'Neill's plays, the author attempts to give a detailed discussion of O'Neill's acceptance of Nietzsche in four aspects, namely the tragic themes, tragic spirit, tragic characters and tragic effect. Firstly, O'Neill shares Nietzsche's tragic themes in anti-religion, as well as his condemnation of the industrialism and materialism that are caused by the ill development of science. Then the dissertation demonstrates O'Neill's eulogy and yearns of the Greek spirit. He highly values this spirit and wishes to revive it just as Nietzsche does. As characterization is concerned, the characters in O'Neill's plays are either the Apolline, indulging in their pipe dreams to survive; or the Dionysian, teeming with strong desire and determination to control and surpass; or even the combination of the two. Lastly, O'Neill no longer emphasizes the function of "catharsis" as the traditional tragedy requires. He is close to Nietzsche in affirming life with the Dionysian spirit and acquiring a kind of "metaphysical comfort" in his tragedy.Part eight switches from the similarities between O'Neill and Nietzsche to their differences. O'Neill's acceptance of Nietzsche is a process of selection, absorption, and re-creation.The last part is the conclusion. O'Neill is a towering giant of drama. He is much indebted to Nietzsche in shaping his tragic sense. However, O'Neill is not a passive receptor, prostrating himself before Nietzsche. Instead, his critical adoptionof Nietzsche's thoughts, especially his "art delivering life", greatly conduces the uniqueness and profundity of his tragic sense. O'Neill's ultimate concern with human fates and perseverant exploration into man's soul reveals rays of...