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Days Without End
John Loving is engaged in a life and death conflict with the sneering, cynical element of his psyche which has poisoned his past life, made him prey to false gods, and now seeks to destroy him through suicide. He seeks absolution and his tormentor perishes at the foot of the Cross.
SCENES
ACT ONE
PLOT FOR A NOVEL
Scene--John Loving's office in the offices of Eliot and Company, New York City--an afternoon in early Spring, 1932.
ACT TWO
PLOT FOR A NOVEL (CONTINUED)
Scene--Living-room of the Lovings' duplex apartment--later the same afternoon.
ACT THREE
PLOT FOR A NOVEL (CONTINUED)
Scene One--The living-room again--evening of the same day.
Scene Two--John Loving's study--later that night.
ACT FOUR
THE END OF THE END
Scene One--The study and Elsa's bedroom--a little before dawn of a day about a week later.
Scene Two--The interior of a church--a few minutes later.
SCENES
ACT ONE
PLOT FOR A NOVEL
Scene--John Loving's office in the offices of Eliot and Company, New York City--an afternoon in early Spring, 1932.
ACT TWO
PLOT FOR A NOVEL (CONTINUED)
Scene--Living-room of the Lovings' duplex apartment--later the same afternoon.
ACT THREE
PLOT FOR A NOVEL (CONTINUED)
Scene One--The living-room again--evening of the same day.
Scene Two--John Loving's study--later that night.
ACT FOUR
THE END OF THE END
Scene One--The study and Elsa's bedroom--a little before dawn of a day about a week later.
Scene Two--The interior of a church--a few minutes later.
- GenresPlays
157 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1934
31 people want to read
About the author
Eugene O'Neill
533 books1,274 followersAmerican playwright Eugene Gladstone O'Neill authored
Mourning Becomes Electra
in 1931 among his works; he won the Nobel Prize of 1936 for literature, and people awarded him his fourth Pulitzer Prize for
Long Day's Journey into Night
, produced in 1956.
He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism that Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg pioneered to Americans and first used true American vernacular in his speeches.
His plays involve characters, who, engaging in depraved behavior, inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote Ah, Wilderness! , his only comedy: all his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.
He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism that Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg pioneered to Americans and first used true American vernacular in his speeches.
His plays involve characters, who, engaging in depraved behavior, inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote Ah, Wilderness! , his only comedy: all his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 10, 2013
Two characters are introduced to the audience - they are mirror images of each other, one named John, one named Loving (wearing a mask not of an innocent character.) It is quickly apparent that these are two sides of the same character, at war in the same mind.
John is writing a thinly disguised novel of his own disillusionment and reasons for his lack of faith in anything - namely that God took away the parents he loved. This pain and loss is associated with the love he had and therefore he constructs or adopts philosophies (communism, atheism, business...) that don't need God, love or faith.
"Days Without End" is a biblical sounding title - and this is the most religious of O'Neill's plays I've read so far. The ending where John and Loving become "John Loving" is a bit of wish fulfillment, but it does work in the constraints of the play, even if a little pat. The psychological warfare between John and Loving (and John and loving), John and his wife and John and his uncle, a priest would be interesting see on the stage.
John is writing a thinly disguised novel of his own disillusionment and reasons for his lack of faith in anything - namely that God took away the parents he loved. This pain and loss is associated with the love he had and therefore he constructs or adopts philosophies (communism, atheism, business...) that don't need God, love or faith.
"Days Without End" is a biblical sounding title - and this is the most religious of O'Neill's plays I've read so far. The ending where John and Loving become "John Loving" is a bit of wish fulfillment, but it does work in the constraints of the play, even if a little pat. The psychological warfare between John and Loving (and John and loving), John and his wife and John and his uncle, a priest would be interesting see on the stage.
July 18, 2024
#2005-06: With O’Neill
In this family play, of not much prominence, O’Neill is still in search of an answer to man’s quest for spiritual inevitability. The critical insinuations of the entire argument reveal a mind alive to the limitations and values of the past, a mind high-strung and intense, keyed to new ventures and further explorations. It strives to affirm not only optimism but faith — an optimistic solution to the “sickness of today”. It is an unpersuasive drama and a philosophical whistling in the dark. In this play, O’Neill uses a device that seems forced. In order to present his “tragedy” of John Loving, a man who has disremembered his initial visions and is, as it were, stunned back to his God. O’Neill uses the trick of having two actors play a single character [ a very common ploy in modern plays] for the purpose of enlightening different aspects of his being. It can by a hair's breadth be claimed that the means designed to secure his end is anything save arduous and artificially imagined. A hard 2 on 5.
In this family play, of not much prominence, O’Neill is still in search of an answer to man’s quest for spiritual inevitability. The critical insinuations of the entire argument reveal a mind alive to the limitations and values of the past, a mind high-strung and intense, keyed to new ventures and further explorations. It strives to affirm not only optimism but faith — an optimistic solution to the “sickness of today”. It is an unpersuasive drama and a philosophical whistling in the dark. In this play, O’Neill uses a device that seems forced. In order to present his “tragedy” of John Loving, a man who has disremembered his initial visions and is, as it were, stunned back to his God. O’Neill uses the trick of having two actors play a single character [ a very common ploy in modern plays] for the purpose of enlightening different aspects of his being. It can by a hair's breadth be claimed that the means designed to secure his end is anything save arduous and artificially imagined. A hard 2 on 5.
February 16, 2025
Ο Τζων Λόβινγκ χωρίζεται σε δυο προσωπικότητες, στον Τζων και στον Λοβινγκ. Ο ένας χαρακτήρας είναι τρυφερός, σκεπτόμενος ο άλλος όμως είναι του κεφιού, του γλεντιού, της αμαρτίας και της αλητείας. Είναι παντρεμένος, αλλά η μία του πλευρά είναι ζωηρή και ο γάμος για τον Λοβινγκ έρχεται σε δεύτερη μοίρα.
Τότε πλάθει μια ιστορία προσπαθώντας μέσα από αυτή να σπάσει τα κοινωνικά δεσμά του γάμου και να ζήσει μια ελεύθερη ζωή. Την ιστορία του την εξομολογείται στην γυναίκα του αλλά και στον ιερέα θείο του. Ο ιερέας προσπαθεί να τον συνετίσει στο όνομα της αγάπης ενώ ταυτόχρονα η γυναίκα του Έλσα αρρωσταίνει βαθιά. Ο Τζων Λοβινγκ απελπίζεται και προσπαθεί ένα επαναφέρει την γυναίκα του πίσω αντιλαμβανόμενος την αξία του γάμου. Έτσι ξαναπιστεύει στην αγάπη και τον αληθινό θεό.
Το συγκεκριμένο έργο είναι από τα πιο αδύναμα έργα του Ευγένιου Ο’Νηλ. Δεν υπάρχει ο ρεαλισμός και η απαισιοδοξία που τον χαρακτηρίζει. Προσπαθεί να μιλήσει για τις κοινωνικές συμβάσεις αλλά στο τέλος έρχεται η εκκλησία που επαναφέρει τον ήρωα στους κόλπους της εκκλησιαστικής διδαχής και ηθικής.
Τότε πλάθει μια ιστορία προσπαθώντας μέσα από αυτή να σπάσει τα κοινωνικά δεσμά του γάμου και να ζήσει μια ελεύθερη ζωή. Την ιστορία του την εξομολογείται στην γυναίκα του αλλά και στον ιερέα θείο του. Ο ιερέας προσπαθεί να τον συνετίσει στο όνομα της αγάπης ενώ ταυτόχρονα η γυναίκα του Έλσα αρρωσταίνει βαθιά. Ο Τζων Λοβινγκ απελπίζεται και προσπαθεί ένα επαναφέρει την γυναίκα του πίσω αντιλαμβανόμενος την αξία του γάμου. Έτσι ξαναπιστεύει στην αγάπη και τον αληθινό θεό.
Το συγκεκριμένο έργο είναι από τα πιο αδύναμα έργα του Ευγένιου Ο’Νηλ. Δεν υπάρχει ο ρεαλισμός και η απαισιοδοξία που τον χαρακτηρίζει. Προσπαθεί να μιλήσει για τις κοινωνικές συμβάσεις αλλά στο τέλος έρχεται η εκκλησία που επαναφέρει τον ήρωα στους κόλπους της εκκλησιαστικής διδαχής και ηθικής.
February 9, 2024
Discovering that O'Neill had written a play based on the Faust legend, shortly after so brilliantly reimagining classical drama in 'Mourning Becomes Electra' was hugely exciting. I was impatient with critical orthodoxy because it's so often two dimensional as far as plays are concerned, so skewed towards limitations and perceived weaknesses. But this is dramatically inert, difficult to read (both because of the mawkish sentiments and the utterly wooden dialogue) and wholly lacking in taste. In the light of O'Neill's work as a whole, what a curiosity, what a failure.
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June 4, 2017Amazing book with disappointing, generic happy-end.
I really liked Loving.
I really liked Loving.
April 12, 2016
Was good until the last couple of pages. Disappointed with the ending. I was really rooting for nihilism, instead protagonist returns to boyhood Catholic faith. Sad really.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews