The Iceman Cometh (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Eugene O’Neill
- First Published: 1946
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: 1912
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy, Tragicomedy
- Subjects: Values, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., Self-discovery, United States or Americans, New York City, Restaurants, bars, taverns, or pubs, Guilt, 1910’s, Success or failure, Hallucinations or illusions, Life, philosophy of, Christ figures or saviors, Mortality, Sales personnel
- Locales: New York, NY
Places Discussed
Harry Hope’s saloon. Squalid barroom in lower New York City. Although a fictional creation, it is modeled on three actual spots familiar to Eugene O’Neill: Jimmy the Priest’s, a flophouse where O’Neill landed after a stint at sea; the Hell Hole, a Greenwich Village establishment; and the taproom of the Garden Hotel near the old Madison Square Garden.
O’Neill’s stage directions describe a “dirty black curtain” that separates the backroom from the bar. The backroom, the location of the primary action of the play, is so crammed with tables...
[The entire page is 854 words long]

