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Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night3 is widely recognized as a masterpiece of dramatic literature, the playwright's “crowning achievement” (Schvey, 1980, p. 85), and to some the “finest American play ever written” (Sheaffer, 1973, p. 635). Curiously, the author wanted his play “of old sorrow” (O'Neill, 1941, dedication) to remain unpublished until 25 years after his death, with the explicit instruction that the work should never be performed (Sheaffer, 1973). Naively or by design, Eugene O'Neill entrusted his literary estate to his third wife, Carlotta Monterey O'Neill, who disregarded both wishes within three years following his death. She justified her action by claiming that it was O'Neill's son, Eugene, Jr., who asked his father for the 25 year interdiction. The third Mrs. O'Neill has said that he put her in control of his literary trust at a point when she was plagued by concerns about money. She claims that O'Neill told her that she could publish the play when she pleased. Others have questioned her account (Sheaffer, 1973).
The discrepancy between O'Neill's stated wishes and the action of making Carlotta O'Neill his sole literary trustee reveals his own ambivalence about this autobiographical play. Was there actually “deep pity and understanding and forgiveness for ALL the four haunted Tyrones” (O'Neill, 1941, dedication)? His emphasis in the dedication is intended to include the character in the play representing himself and begs this question: