Chautauqua Lecture Series: Gene and Carlotta: The Origins of Eugene O’Neill’s Sea Island Retreat

On October 29, 1911, newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer died aboard his yacht in the Charleston, S.C., harbor. His destination had been his winter cottage on Jekyll Island. Several years later, through an endowment in his will, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded to recognize excellence in journalism and the arts.

This summer, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Prize, the Society will explore connections between our state and the coveted award. In a series of five programs, scholars and authors will focus on winners in different categories and the impact of the Prize. The series will begin and end with lectures about early recipients: playwright Eugene O’Neill, winner of four Prizes for drama, who lived on Sea Island for four years; and Caroline Miller, 1934 winner for fiction, who paved the way for Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. The 1998 and 2007 Pulitzer Prize winners in History, both Georgia residents, will discuss the impact of the award on their careers, and Joseph Pulitzer’s biographer will tell the story of the ground-breaking publisher.

The series will open on Thursday, August 11 with “Gene and Carlotta: The Origins of Eugene O’Neill’s Sea Island Retreat,” a lecture by Dr. Robert M. Dowling, professor of English at Central Connecticut State University and author of the acclaimed 2014 biography, Eugene O’Neill: A Life in Four Acts. In 1932, O’Neill and his actress wife, Carlotta, built a Sea Island cottage to escape the hectic pace of New York City. While living there, the playwright wrote his only comedy, Ah! Wilderness. Dr. Dowling, who serves on the editorial board of The Eugene O'Neill Review and has written numerous books about O’Neill, will discuss this pivotal period in the context of the playwright’s turbulent life.