All God’s Chillun Got Wings Desire under the Elms and Welded.

O'NEILL, Eugene.

$750.00

Item Number: 108639

London: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1927.

First edition, second printing of this collection of two of O’Neill’s expressionist plays, including one of his most controversial. Octavo, original cloth. Signed by Eugene O’Neill on the front free endpaper. With the publishers Now & Then advertisement postcard laid in. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.

Arguably one of O'Neill's most controversial of plays, All God's Chillun Got Wings portrays the marriage of an African American husband and an abusive Caucasian woman, who, resenting her husband's skin color, destroys his promising career as a lawyer. The play debuted on May 15, 1924, at the Provincetown Playhouse and received mixed reviews. Many critics argued O'Neill to be a sensationalist, rather than a creator of social commentary who was simply feeding into current social stereotypes, while others viewed his inclusion of of a W. E. B. Du Bois excerpt in the play's opening playbill as a testament to his neutral stance on the issue of interracial relationships.