iting plays and he began sending scripts to New York with little success. “The Web” and “A Wife For A Life,” were bought but never performed. Shortly following his rejection he began writing “Bound East For Cardiff,” considered one of his masterpieces. He also applied to the Harvard drama department to study modern play writing and with the encouragement of friend Clayton Hamilton, he decided he would attend the class. This is the time when he came up with the motto “An artist or nothing”(Miller p6), which would guide the coarse of the rest of his life. When finally, “Thirst,” a book of one act plays was published, he was exited to finally be published. However, the book was an immediate failure and O’Neill would prevent it ever from being released in his lifetime. When he finally attended classes at Harvard, he was unimpressed with the works of other modern poets and therefor was not very active. Spent another summer of failed romance and parties, and would eventually move into his own place in Greenwich Village. While living in the village, he frequented the Golden Swan Bar, and became an alcoholic. In fact, “the only tie he stopped drinking was when he was writing”(Miller p7). “Bound East for Cardiff,” became Eugene’s fist hit and when it was staged by the Provincetown players it was an instant success. He stayed in Provincetown for a while and wrote several other short plays. Moved back to the village and got involved with Louise Bryant. He lived in a love triangle with her and her husband until 1918. When “Bound East for Cardiff was finally performed in the village, Stephen Rathburn of the New York Evening Sun praised O’Neil for his work. During W.W.I he was arrested in Provincetown for vagrancy and suspicion of espionage. He was released immediately but he was continuously tailed for several weeks due to suspicion. Eugene ne...
