Product Description

"The greatest American dramatist of our age" (Evening Standard) The twenty-three essays and three interviews collected here give us Arthur Miller's views on the theatre including such topics as the origins of modern drama, the nature of tragedy, what makes plays endure, the theatre in Russia and at home - on Broadway and at New York's Lincoln Center. Above all, they give eloquent expression of his belief in "the theatre as a serious business, one that makes or should make man more human, which is to say, less alone."In reading this definitive collection of the playwright's pieces, covering some thirty years, and subjects ranging from Willy Loman's fall to AFTER THE FALL, from Ibsen to O'Neill, from the commercial hit-flop approach to subsidised theatre, you are exhileratingly aware of a social critic, as well as playwright, who knows what he's about." (Studs Terkel, Chicago Tribune) "Arthur Miller understands that serious writing is a social act as well as an aesthetic one, that political involvement comes with the territory. A writer's work and his actions should be of the same cloth, after all. HIs plays and his conscience are a cold burning force." (Edward Albee) Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he began work with the Federal Theatre Project. His first Broadway hit was All My Sons, closely followed by Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge and The Price. His works of fiction include the novella Plain Girl and a collection of short stories, I Don't Need You Any More. His non-fiction includes In Russia, Chinese Encounters, 'Salesman' in Beijing and his autobiography, Timebends. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest playwrights of the twentieth century, Miller died in 2005.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395041 in Books
• Published on: 1994-08-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 428 pages

Customer Reviews

Classic essays on the nature of drama
These collected essays, first published in such periodicals as The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, or Atlantic Monthly, trace the origins of modern drama in Greek tragedy and comedy. At least four of them should be required reading in any introductory course in British and American literature: The Salesman Has A Birthday; Tragedy And The Common Man; The Nature Of Tragedy; and The Family In Modern Drama. The last of these contains a memorable phrase that furnished the title of the selection of the late U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl's essays, At Home In The World. One brief quotation from Tragedy And The Common Man that seems especially relevant to the present era will suffice: "The Greeks could probe the very heavenly origin of their ways and return to confirm the rightness of laws."