The Emperor Jones (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Eugene O’Neill
- First Published: 1921
- Type of Work: Play
- Genres: Drama, Melodrama, Expressionist literature, Symbolist literature
- Subjects: 1960’s, Mothers, Parents and children, Caribbean, Magic or magicians, Blacks, Race, Twentieth century, Religion, Emotions, Fear, Islands, Death or dying, Jungles or rain forests, Adventure, Rites or ceremonies, Intellect, Cannibalism, Tyrants or tyranny
- Locales: West Indies, Islands
The Emperor Jones, which ran for 204 performances at the Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village, represented the first major success by a black actor on the American stage; it also made O’Neill famous.
Almost medieval in structure, this long one-act play in eight scenes details the fall from power of a corrupt ruler, former Pullman porter Brutus Jones, who has made himself emperor of a West Indian island and greedily exploited the natives. As the play opens, the populace has revolted, and Jones realizes he must flee. In his egocentricity, he believes that the...
[The entire page is 908 words long]
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