IN THIS ISSUE:

• A SPECIAL CENTENNIAL SALUTE TO EUGENE O'NEILL, PART III: PAPERS FROM THE 1984 AND 1986 O'NEILL CONFERENCES AT SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY IN BOSTON

  • Normand Berlin on comic tradition and The Iceman Cometh

  • Yvonne Shafer on parallels in Iceman and Ibsen's Wild Duck

  • James A. Robinson on Iceman's absent women and Mary Tyrone

  • Bette Mandl on the maternal portrait in Long Day's Journey

  • Jean Chothia on the linguistic polyphony of the four Tyrones

  • Steven F. Bloom on contrasts between Waiting for Godot and Hughie

  • Esther M. Jackson on dramatic form in The Calms of Capricorn

• Richard F. Moorton on the family surname in Mourning Becomes Electra

• Reviews of books and productions

  • Frederick C. Wilkins on O'Neill's Complete Plays and Selected Letters

  • Frederick C. Wilkins on three sea one-acts in Amherst, MA

  • Frederick C. Wilkins on Beyond the Horizon in the Berkshires

  • A. James Fisher on Long Day's Journey Into Night in Indianapolis

  • Stephen A. Black on The Iceman Cometh in Ashland, Oregon

• News and comment

• Persons represented in this issue

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EDITOR'S FOREWORD: VALE ATQUE AVE!

Well, here goes: a farewell to the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter at the start of its 36th issue and the end of its 12th and final year, and a prefatory "hail" to the Eugene O'Neill Review that will succeed it come spring. When I sent out the former's 16-page "preview" issue in January 1977, I had no idea that it would still be in existence, let alone be undergoing a metamorphosis, 12 years later. And when the second 1980 number reached a whopping 38 pages (billed and priced as a "double issue"!), I figured it had passed its apogee and would soon, like Nina Leeds, "rot away in peace." But it continued to grow, to the britches-busting 96 pages of the issue before this. If rot has set in, it surely isn't measurable quantitatively!

So why change it? Isn't it foolish to tinker with a publication that has achieved a size and readership betokening acceptance? I think not. Take its title, for instance. Can a thrice-ennial and congenitally tardy journal claim to offer up-to-date "news"? And can a publication of 96 pages call itself a "letter"? Hardly. Hence the long overdue change of name. In addition, the folded and saddle-stitched format that has been the Newsletter's since 1982 is less than the last word in attractive, convenient packaging. So there is justification there, too, for at least a modest evolutionary step forward, though I cannot tell, until current investigations end, whether the step will be a baby or a giant one. I can, however, offer two promises. Whatever changes do occur--in size, type, binding, etc.--will be improvements on what has been. And whatever excellence the Newsletter has achieved--thanks mostly to Joanna Mann (copy preparation) and Marshall Brooks (logo, layout and design)--will in no way be undermined by its transformation.

This much is certain. The Eugene O'Neill Review will appear twice a year--a Spring issue (c. May) and a Fall issue (c. November). Its prices will, for the first year at least, remain the same as the Newsletter's have been. It will continue to be published by Suffolk University and edited by its winded but eager founder; but it will be, even more than in the past, an official journal of the Eugene O'Neill Society, with a board of advisory editors from the Society's membership. And it will continue to print scholarly articles, reviews of books and performances, news and comment. The Book Review Editor will be Steven F. Bloom, to whom books, reviews and requests to review should hereafter be sent (Department of English, Emmanuel College, Boston, MA 02115). The Performance Review Editor will be Yvonne Shafer, and it is to her that reports and reviews of productions should be pent (Department of Drama, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME 04038). The Review will retain the Newsletter's permissive blend of old and new MLA documentation styles, though the new, whenever possible, will be preferred. And the deadlines for submissions will be January 31 (for Spring issues) and August 31 (for Fall issues). Materials should be double-spaced, submitted in duplicate, and accompanied by biographical information about the writer. We are particularly avid to include illustrations with reviews (indeed, throughout every issue), and welcome glossy production photos and/or program/poster graphics, which may be sent either to Professor Shafer or to the main editorial office at Suffolk University. Articles, letters, news notes, queries and comments should be sent, as in the past, to the latter address.

I pledge to make the Eugene O'Neill Review a worthy successor to the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter; I welcome the many new cooks who will aid in preparing the semiannual broth; and I ask anyone with suggestions of any kind to send them to me as soon as possible. My pledge will matter little unless your wishes are reflected in the new publication. Together, we can make the ave as heartening as the vale is melancholy! --FCW

The Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, Vol. XII, No. 3, ISSN: 0733-0456. Copyright (c) 1988 by the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter. Copyright © 2011 by Harley J. Hammerman. Editor: Frederick C. Wilkins. Assoc. Editor: Marshall Brooks. Subscriptions: $10/year for individuals in U.S. and Canada, $15/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 @ $5 each. Address: The Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, Department of English, Suffolk University, Boston, MA 02114 U.S.A. Tel. (617) 573-8272.