IN THIS ISSUE:

• R. Viswanathan on the ship scene in The Emperor Jones
   

• Winifred Frazer on O'Neill as poet
   

• Paul D. Voelker on Desire Under the Elms in Minneapolis
   

• LeRoy Robinson on John Howard Lawson's Souls--precursor of Strange Interlude
   

• Eric Linklater's parody of Strange Interlude, introduced by Bill Costley
   

• An O'Neill bibliography by Charles A. Carpenter
   

• The Eugene O'Neill Society Section: News and Announcements
   

• Reviews, reprints and abstracts
   

• News, notes and queries
   

• Contributors to this issue

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FOREWORD: EDITORIAL ENTREATIES

Before I get to the entreaties (a series of pleas, or pleases), let me begin the last issue of Volume IV with an expression of gratitude to all whose contributions (and at the moment I'm referring to literary and not financial contributions) make it at least the equal of its predecessors: to R. Viswanathan, for revealing how hastily or inaccurately many of us have previously assessed the ship scene in The Emperor Jones; to Winifred Frazer, for her sensitive and kindly study of O'Neill's not-always-felicitous poetry; to Paul Voelker, for showing, in his review of Desire Under the Elms, how even a bad production can provide important insights about interpretation and stagecraft; to LeRoy Robinson and Susan Tuck for delineating the affinities between O'Neill and (respectively) John Howard Lawson and William Faulkner; to Bill Costley, for providing both biographical information on Eric Linklater and a copy of the pages from Juan in America that are reprinted herein; and, finally, to all who have sent in news, articles and production/publication information that I would not otherwise have seen or been able to share. If only more would do the same--but that leads to one of my pleas, so I'll defer it. Thanks to all of you, I believe I have been able to make good on my promise that a two-issue Volume would not be "a diminished thing" other than in times of issuance. Now to the entreaties--the "pleases."

Please forgive the periodic tardiness of issues, a sin that I have decided, from this issue onward, to preclude (or mask) by giving each issue a season rather than a month as its date. (The designations for the three issues in Volume V, all of which will appear within calendar year 1981, will be Spring, Summer/Fall, and Winter.) As Chairman of an English department, with only an associate editor and a tireless secretary to aid me in the Newsletter endeavor, I find that administrative tasks (heaviest in autumn) impede the speedy and punctual construction. of a strictly Fall issue. Hence your December receipt of the enclosed, its designation as the "Winter 1980" issue (there's far more of the , current winter in 1981 than in 1980, but I hope this arbitrary designation is acceptable), and the turgid explanation/apology in this paragraph!

Please resubscribe to the Newsletter if your current subscription concludes with this issue. (If it does, the envelope also contains a renewal blank.) Only through the renewed monetary endorsement of its subscribers can the Newsletter continue to flourish.

Please mention the Newsletter to others with a concern for O'Neill and American drama who might also be interested in subscribing. (If Aunt Midge is still aglow about Lynn Fontanne's performance in the 1928 Strange Interlude, consider buying her a subscription as a gift.) Or if you are affiliated with a college or university, remind the librarian that the Newsletter is a "must" for any reasonably complete drama collection and urge that a subscription be initiated forthwith.

Please remember that, if you join the Eugene O'Neill Society for 1981, a Newsletter subscription is automatically included--at no additional cost to you. So if it's renewal time and your dedication to O'Neill continues unabated, why not "support two birds with one check"? Rather than resubscribing, turn to the O'Neill Society section of this issue, find your membership category, and send a check for that amount to Jordan Miller at the address listed there. You'll be assured, not only of helping the development of a myriad of Society activities, and of participating in them, but also of receiving all the issues in Volume V.

Please join the roster of active subscribers--those who send in clippings (with source, date and page), information about performances of O'Neill's plays, notes and queries, and longer articles. (Aunt Midge is herewith invited to recapture Miss Fontanne's 1928 brilliance in a descriptive reverie for a future issue.) I sift through all the sources of information available to me, but they don't begin to cover the United States, let alone the world. As I've said too often already, the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter is a vehicle for the dissemination of the opinions, discoveries, news and writings of its subscribers; and the fifth and subsequent volumes will be as good as (or better than) the first four only if that world-wide network of O'Neill devotees become in effect co-editors--participants in, and not just recipients of, its thrice-ennial life.

With these entreaties, I conclude this foreword, Volume IV, and 1980. Please have a happy and prosperous 1981, filled--to use one of James O'Neill, Sr.'s favorite Crocker House toasts--with "sunny days and starry nights"!

The Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, Vol. IV, No. 3. Copyright (c) by the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter. Copyright © 2011 by Harley J. Hammerman. Editor: Frederick C. Wilkins. Assoc. Editor: Marshall Brooks. Subscriptions: $6/year for individuals in U.S. & Canada, $10/year for libraries, institutions and all overseas subscribers. Only one-year subscriptions are accepted. Members of the Eugene O'Neill Society receive subscriptions as part of their annual dues. Back issues available @ $3 each. Address: The Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, Department of English, Suffolk University, Boston, MA 02114 U.S.A.