Dowling moves into finals for LA Times Book Prize
Robert M. Dowling of New London is a finalist for the prestigious LA Times Book Prize for his new biography on Eugene O'Neill.
Dowling, who is a Central Connecticut State University English professor, did intensive research to develop "Eugene O'Neill: A Life in Four Acts." The book has earned accolades for cultivating new insights into the life of the Pulitzer- and Nobel-winning dramatist.
Dowling is one of five finalists in the biography category and has been invited to attend the 35th annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 18, where the winner for each of 10 categories will be announced.
His book, published by the Yale University Press in October 2014, highlights the connections between O'Neill's plays and his political and philosophical world view. It is the first to discuss a lost play from 1919, "Exorcism." O'Neill had ordered all copies of "Exorcism" destroyed, but a copy was recently recovered. Dowling, who has authored several other books on the playwright, writes in his new biography about O'Neill's early role in transforming the American theater and the release of the play "Long Day's Journey Into Night" in defiance of his explicit instructions.
Among the pages are photographs that had never been published until now.
Dowling serves on the editorial board of The Eugene O'Neill Review and the Eugene O'Neill Society board of directors. He earned his Ph.D. from the City University of New York.
Dowling is quoted in a CCSU release as saying that, when he heard he was a finalist for the prize, he immediately thought about all the "exemplary biographies" that had come out over the past year, "… ones that I've read and read about. It's just wonderful that mine could have reached up to the level of the LA Times Book Prize. It's particularly rewarding given that I'm a teacher at a state school who published with a university press."
He added, "I'm especially delighted that the subject of Eugene O'Neill's life and work was chosen. It bodes well for the future legacy of our state's most accomplished literary son!"
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