Humanities Decanted: William Davies King

Join us for a dialogue between William Davies King (Theater and Dance) and Jessica Nakamura (Theater and Dance) about King’s new book, Finding the Way to ‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’: Eugene O’Neill and Carlotta Monterey O’Neill at Tao House.

In this book, King offers a new way to approach Eugene O’Neill’s most famous play by reading this intensely autobiographical masterpiece in terms of the Taoism-inspired California house where it was written on the verge of World War II and the fractious marriage to Carlotta Monterey O’Neill to whom the play is dedicated. As an unusually explicit autobiographical drama, Long Day’s Journey Into Night returns to 1912, the outset of O’Neill’s writing career, when he confronted tragedy in his family story and found a way to dramatize his mother, father, brother, and himself in a way that has resonated with audiences since its publication and production in 1956. But King argues that the play originates as much in the moment of its creation, 1939–1941—in the family relationships, the historical circumstances, and the fact that this work would represent a moment of closure of his great career. Key to this heroic story of creation is the intervention of his wife, Carlotta, whose diaries enable a day-to-day observation of how the play was written. This book develops a close reading of their house and marriage and also uses many of O’Neill’s previous plays to illuminate the breakthrough of Long Day’s Journey.

William Davies King is Distinguished Professor of Theater and Dance at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a veteran scholar of Eugene O’Neill, his life and works, and his wives.

Refreshments will be served.

Cosponsored by the IHC’s Harry Girvetz Memorial Endowment