A truly modern classic by one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century, Long Day's Journey into Night is an intensely autobiographical, wonderfully tragic portrait of the author's family—a work so personal that he insisted it not be published until after his death.

The story unfolds over the course of a single day at the Tyrone home in Connecticut. James Tyrone Sr. is a miserly, talented actor who squanders his talent in an undemanding job. The elder son, Jamie, is a likable, drunken confirmed failure. The younger son, Edmund, is poetic, sensitive, suffering from a respiratory illness, and deeply disappointed. Their mother, Mary, lives in a veil of self-delusion and morphine dependence.

Under the same roof, and the weight of the past, as they coexist, they dismantle each other, gradually severing their ties.

The play is set in 1912, the year of his own suicide attempt, and it is an effort to understand himself and those with whom he was inextricably bound by fate and love. It is the most extraordinary and powerful work America has produced according to Christopher Bigsby.

Long Day's Journey into Night was written between 1939-41 and first published in 1956 (after O'Neill's death in 1953). It premiered at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm in February 1956 and had its first American production at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York in November of the same year. It won the Tony Award for Best Play and O'Neill was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

This edition includes a complete introduction, biography, and timeline. Pages: 128, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm.