Taoism in Eugene O’Neill’s Plays

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.210609.066How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Eugene O’Neill, Taoism, play

Abstract

Eugene O’Neill, father of American play, is a world-renowned playwright. In the 20th century, with the rapid development of capitalist industrialization, the westerners were reduced to the spiritual wasteland. Writers, including O’Neill, threw their eyes to the mystic Eastern world and tried to find ways to resolve the crisis in society and conflicts in mind. Among all the eastern philosophies, Taoism has become a focus of O’Neill. Basic Taoist principles, ranging from Revolving and Returning, Pipe Dream, to Unity with Nature, get fully presentation in his three typical plays. The reason why O’Neill is fascinated by Oriental thoughts, especially Taoism, can be understood from not only contemporary social background but also personal experiences. Taoism is a philosophy full of complexity and cannot be thoroughly understood by O’Neill, despite the deep insights and great artistry in his plays. Meanwhile, conflicts and integration between eastern and western culture are also clearly reflected, which will help readers recognize O’Neill from a brand-new perspective and realize the unique position of eastern culture in the process of global cultural communication.

Copyright

© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Wei Dong
AU  - Xincun Huo
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/06/10
TI  - Taoism in Eugene O’Neill’s Plays
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Language, Art and Cultural Exchange (ICLACE 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 328
EP  - 331
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210609.066
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.210609.066
ID  - Dong2021
ER  -