Name: Eugene O'Neill
Year Won: 1936
Read: Emperor Jones
Original Language: English
Reason: "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy"
About: Emperor Jones is an experimental play told mostly in monologue form by the titular Emperor Jones, a black man who sets himself up as the emperor of a small Carribean island. Eventually he dies, after going through descents into grandiosity and madness.
What I liked: The concept is intriguing and I love the titular character. He's quite interesting. And the play is short yet succinct.
What I Disliked: The dialectic is so heavy that it's hard to read. It's also potentially offensive, due to heavily using a particular slur.
Should it have won a Nobel: Probably. This is only one of O'Neill's many great plays (and probably not the greatest), yet it's still pretty good. (I do feel that it would be more interesting to catch this on stage, but que sera.)
Next up: "The Postman" by Roger Martin du Gard
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