Typed Letter Signed, 1 page
Thursday, October 19, 1944
San Francisco
To Leon Mirlas

Dear Mr Mirlas:

I sold my home in California six months ago - impossible to maintain it under war conditions and taxes - so your letter was greatly delayed in forwarding.  At present, I am living in an apartment in San Francisco but this is temporary and I expect to leave the West Coast soon and move to New York.

I instructed my agent in New York, Mr Madden, (when you cabled him) to cable you at once in my name full authorization to translate the Nine Plays volume for publication by Editorial Sudamericana, and I hope everything is now arranged to your satisfaction.  I felt strongly that you were the one to do this translation, if you wished to, and had the time to spare.  That is why I refused to sign the contract with Editorial Sudamericana sent to me last May.  I told Mr Madden to inform Mr Smith I would do nothing until you had been consulted, explaining that you had already translated The Great God Brown, that my relation with you had always been the friendliest, that I was sure of your sincere interest in my work, and that I owed you a deep debt of gratitude for all you had done to make my plays known in Argentina and throughout South America.

Congratulations on the birth of your daughter!  I don't wonder you were too excited to write letters!

No, the Cycle of plays I was writing no longer preoccupies me.  I put it aside when the war started in 1939.  For seeing the world in chaos, I knew it would be impossible for me to concentrate on such a long work.  But I have managed to write several plays outside the Cycle, although owing to continued poor health and wartime conditions I have not allowed them to be produced in New York yet.  During the past year or more, I have done no work at all.  The war, combined with illness of both Mrs O'Neill and myself, and other worries, has caused me to loose interest in the theatre for the present.

Again, all good wishes from us to you, Mrs Mirlas and the baby daughter!

Very sincerely,

Eugene O'Neill

c/o Random House
20 East 57th Street
New York City (22)
New York

© Copyright 1999-2007 eOneill.com