The Message of All Eugene O’Neill

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 • Writing

“There is one man—and only one!—who is so old, drunk, ruined, hopeless, self-destructive, sick, failed, and bitter (and yet who yet once had promise and potential to rival anyone whom you wish to compare him to); who is so estranged from all loved ones, family and former friends, who has sunk to depths of destructive self-pity, alcoholism and poverty…that only he has the towering moral authority to hold forth on every conceivable subject and issue blistering, devastating critiques of everyone in the vicinity. Others will claim the throne, but he will defeat them all…his ruination renders him infallible as the ultimate judge and jury of the entire dismal pageant of humanity, since his bitterness, vitriol and bile bestow sufficient legitimacy to destroy all optimism in the name of ‘truth.'”