About this title: Into a waterfront bar, full of life's failures, subsisting solely on their dreams, comes Hickey with his urge to make them face the truth. This play, first staged in 1946, is written by the author of "Anna Christie" and "Strange Interlude", who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1957
ISBN-13:9780394700182ISBN:039470018X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Modern Library Paperbacks, V18. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1957
ISBN-13:9780394700182ISBN:039470018X
Description: A good reading copy only. Book has tanning or browning due to normal aging process. Some writing on the inside front cover. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Fair. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Vintage Pub Date: 3/12/1957 Binding: Paperback Pages: 260. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and creases. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1957
ISBN-13:9780394700182ISBN:039470018X
Description: Very Good. Book in Very Good Condition. May have slight or small markings along bottom or sides. Clean insides with no writing or highlighting on pages. Multiple copies may be available. SHIPS W/IN 24 HOURS! FREE INSURANCE on all orders! E-mail notification! Careful, thorough packaging. Fast, personal service. No hassle, full refund return policy! COMBINE SHIPPING-TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER BOOKS/CDs/MOVIES AVAILABLE! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1957
ISBN-13:9780394700182ISBN:039470018X
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. edge wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Modern Library Paperbacks, P28. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: 2nd printing.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 1946
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Ex-library. Signed by previous owner; blacked out name. Small DJ edge tears at spine ends, inside flap edges. Tape residue from library cover. viii, 260 p. 21 cm. First issued, 1940, in type-written form, after the author's 12 years of poor health. O'Neill's career brought him a Nobel Prize for Literature, three Pulitzer Prizes, and many other accolades. read more
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, New York
Date Published: 1977
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Hardcover, w/jacket. Uusual depressing remainder-mark & d/j has some minor edge-tearing, pp lightly tanned, otherwise--all VG, tight & clean. 260 pp, 21 cm. Despite the dilbertesque IT around here, the imprinted ISBN IS: 0739404881 Take that! read more
Description: New. 0739404881 **NEW**Very small tear top of spine. O/w book is in excellent condition, binding tight, pages crisp & clean. No remainder marks. Dlvry confirmation inside US included. Selling books since 1979*... read more
"How jaded must I be? Chronic, neighborhood violence, damn! What kind of civilization cultivates a man that can read The Iceman Cometh and contemptuously think, 'murder, that's it; confessed and taken away? Okay...so, 3-stars?'
Use an RSS feed for your local news, watch the impresarios of late night comedy, see the plea deals that defile our legal system-you'll know common, felony violence perpetrated across class, gender and age for senseless reasons that cheapen lives. It's from this post-post-industrial 2009 culture that makes The Iceman Cometh an anachronistic 1946 warning full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I casually absorbed the shock that made this a haunting play of self obsession.
Well written-the brogue, the characteristic spiral of clinical alcoholism, the insightful capture of debauched saloon perennials in 1912. But the staging of Eugene O'Neill's masterpiece is the only appropriate way, in my mind, to experience the play, not the written word. I'm not an actor-not even a singer-so if you find it hard to translate characters from page to stage, I'd rent the play and observe the genius of actors animating printed word to anatomical characters. This play, full of contorted logic, was made for the stage. You must see the agony, not project the scene direction; you must experience the horror through other characters, not attribute the feeling from back scene narration; you must watch the soliloquy lead to the dénouement; not be interrupted by printed interjections from the side.
This man killed his wife, ostensibly to set her free from having to continue loving the louse he'd become. He exercised increasingly wicked deeds to estrange himself, but she forgave, again and again; she would always forgive. Despite his attempts, he was trapped henceforth by her unconditional love.
The concept of a 'pipedream' was the overriding metaphor in the play. All characters had their peculiar pipedreams. For me, the unique angle of this play was not murder (albeit for whatever reason-it just didn't surprise me); instead it was Hickey's attempt to intrude on each barfly, break the pipedream, dispel their illusions, and make them see how free they were to change their lives. Aghast! How do you change the lives of chronic bottom-feeders? How do you presume to effect the reconciliation of a man, once productive and important, now surrendered and wasted, to see opportunity in life yet? Hickey's last effort to free his friends, when he was himself trapped by murder, was the irony that moved me. Even more, that each barfly tried to change but immediately failed, made Hickey's efforts the ravings of a man truly out of his mind. And yet, the irony greatest of all, was that Hickey's push of altruism resulted in the meaningless, unexpected death of an additional character.
This play was a shock in 1946; today it's merely an open window into man.
"I enjoyed this play, as I do many 20th century American plays and books dealing with profound despair. If you are anti-despair, this is not the play for you. The play deals with socialism, socio-economic class, anarchy, life change, heavy drinking, and self-acceptance.
I adored O'Neill's prose and the very detailed stage directions and character descriptions. There were so many lines I felt compelled to read aloud and the text continually reminded me of my limited daily vocabulary.
The dense stage directions made it a nice play to read (rather than perform), but I can also see why it makes it a complicated play to stage- if a director chose to stay true to the playwright."
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