An Immigrants’ Story: An Updated View of A Touch of The Poet by Eugene O’Neill
| Autoři | |
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| Rok publikování | 2025 |
| Druh | Další prezentace na konferencích |
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| Popis | The play A Touch of the Poet (1939) is one of the last plays by the fundamental figure of modern American drama, Eugene O’Neill. It recounts a story of an Irish immigrant Cornelius Melody, who is a former soldier in Wellington’s army, and as such, he is self-fashioning as a member of British nobility. This self-image is confronted with the reality of 1820s United States with its strong anti-Irish immigration sentiment and the rise of populist policies, as represented by the ideas present in the campaign trail of Andrew “Andy” Jackson. While Melody distances himself from the Irish Americans whom he considers below his own social standing, as well as the Yankees, whom he disdains for their supposed lack of class, he becomes the target of contempt and scorn because of his poverty and unbearable pretense. This social conflict parallels a struggle with his daughter, Sarah, who is determined to break free from the heritage of her father’s immigrant history so that she may make herself in the new country. This presentation will focus on the story of the play as an immigrant’s story, which reflects upon issues related to immigration, such as a search for one’s identity, the country of origin, and differences between generations of immigrants. It will discuss how the play is a unique near-tragic story of Cornelius Melody and his family, namely his wife Nora and their daughter Sarah, while at the same time being a model situation of the condition of the United States as a whole. This perspective will capitalize on various studies of the intended cycle of plays from the history of the United States, which O’Neill had planned but never finished, as discussed in works by the biographer Robert M. Dowling and the literary historian Zander Brietzke. In conclusion, I will discuss these issues from a perspective of my recent translation of the play into Czech, which is currently in rehearsal at the Městské divadlo Brno, set to open in September 2025. |
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