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O’Neill and Harlem Renaissance: Primitivism in The Emperor Jones

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2012, 25(3), pp.115-137
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Paek,Hwankie 1

1순천향대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to explore the primitivism in O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones and its relationship with Harlem Renaissance. The Emperor Jones was written when the Harlem Renaissance was in its golden age. It was an innovative play during the time and it became the first one of its kind to feature a black actor in a major role on the Broadway stage for American theatre. O’Neill, as a white American playwright, is a pioneer on the issue of African American dilemma in the 20th century in America. He endows his title character with a marked individuality to develop theatrical reality deeper than the previous playwrights. However, The Emperor Jones gave rise to controversy due to the issue of race. The Harlem Renaissance was both a celebration of African American achievement and a declaration of freedom from racial myths that characterized the “Old Negro.” During the Harlem Renaissance the white artists found that the primitivism was a symbol of freedom from restraint and a source of energy and sensuality. But primitivism was a complex issue for the black writers in the Harlem Renaissance. By the time The Emperor Jones opened at the Provincetown Playhouse, it would provide encouragement to the black writers in Harlem, but its primitivist approach to the black often highlights the black’s inferiority to the whites. Some white stereotypes seemed to exploit the association of blacks and savagery and the jungle setting; for this reason many artists and intellectuals based in Harlem questioned and doubted the primitivism viewpoint held by whites. Despite its new technique and innovative style, the artistic merits of the play were marred by the primitive practice.

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