The Hairy Ape | Critical Overview

O'Neill himself acknowledged thatThe Hairy Ape straddles a number of styles. "It seems to run the gamut from extreme naturalism to extreme expressionism—with more of the latter than the former," he wrote in 1921. The initial response to productions of The Hairy Ape focused on the skill of the play's staging and its forceful impact on a viewer. Describing O'Neill's skill with the voice of the working men, Alexander Woollcoot of the New York Times said, ''Squirm as you may, he holds you while you listen to the rumble of their discontent, and while you listen......

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