"Listen to the dialogue: no other American dramatist has this feel for the ordinary talk of ordinary people, or the knowledge of what they do. This is more than a writer's craft, it is a psychological and moral openness to humanity, an act not of imitating, but of sharing". Sunday Times This fourth anthology features Arthur Miller's two early plays, The Golden Years, a historical tragedy about Montezuma's destruction at the hands of Cortez, and The Man Who Had All the Luck, a fable about human freedom and individual responsibility, are brought together in this volume. It also features two of his contemporary shorter plays, I Can't Remember Anything and Clara, first presented on a double bill as Danger! Memory. The latter focus on the importance and dangers of remembering the past, while the early plays, written at the time of the Second World War, mark the emergence of a drama in which public issues are rooted in private anxieties and chart the beginning of Miller's career that was one of the most distinguished in dramatic history. First produced in 1944 and revived in London in 2008, The Man Who Had All the Luck is a mesmerising drama in which the author's brilliance and characteristic qualities are already evident: The fourth volume of Miller's plays has been reissued with a new cover and features an introduction by the author and a chronology of his work.

Fourth volume of plays in the reissued Arthur Miller Collection Arthur Miller's two early plays, The Golden Years, an historical tragedy about Montezuma's destruction at the hands of Cortez, and The Man Who Had All the Luck, a fable about human freedom and individual responsibility, are brought together in this volume together with two of his contemporary shorter plays, I Can't Remember Anything and Clara, first presented on a double bill as Danger! Memory. The latter focus on the importance and dangers of remembering the past, while the early plays, written at the time of the Second World War, mark the emergence of a drama in which public issues are rooted in private anxieties and chart the beginning of Miller's career that has been one of the most distinguished in dramatic history. Miller writes an Introduction to this volume.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Freiburg (Englisches Seminar), course: 20th Century American Drama: Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this term paper is to examine how the characters in Arthur Miller's plays are confronted with guilt and responsibility and how they deal with it. Furthermore, I want to demonstrate how personal, individual guilt and responsibility not only become a matter for the individual but also have an important impact on the community and the society. According to Miller, there is a really strong mutual relationship between the individual and society. He states: "Society is inside man and man is inside society, the water is in the fish, the fish is in the water." Miller's main protagonists always try to defend themselves against an accusation, to deny their responsibility and guilt, and to believe in their innocence. Bigsby mentions what all of the characters concerning innocence and guilt have in common: "... [They] spend much of their time rebutting charges whose justice they acknowledge even as they are rejected. They are people who try to escape the consequences of their actions, who try to declare their innocence even when that involves implying the guilt of others." This truly applies for the plays and characters I will observe in the following. I decided to focus on two plays published in the 1940s and 1950s: All My Sons (1947) and The Crucible (1953). Their main protagonists experience confrontation with themselves which finally leads to death. Most emphasis will be laid on All My Sons as there we have a number of characters dealing with guilt and responsibility, namely Chris, Larry, Kate, and Joe Keller. In addition, I will discuss the character of Proctor in The Crucible. The dominant question in these characters becomes this one: "How can a human being work out the interconnections amon

The final volume in Methuen Drama's acclaimed series of work by Arthur Miller who, during his lifetime, was acknowledged as "the greatest American dramatist of our age" (Evening Standard). Featuring two plays from the 1990s and his final two plays (2002 and 2004), it offers the first ever publication of Miller's final play, Finishing the Picture. Inspired by his experience during the filming of The Misfits with his then wife Marilyn Monroe, the play was completed and produced at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago, just months before the playwright's death in February 2005. Broken Glass (1994) is set in Brooklyn in 1938 and intertwines a woman's obsession with the news from Germany that government thugs are smashing Jewish stores, with her strange relationship with her husband. "It balances private lives with public morality. . . it is also an amazingly full-blooded piece, bursting with pain and passion." (Daily Telegraph). Mr Peters' Connections (1998) is an unforgettable journey through one man's mind at a time of suspended consciousness, where the living and dead intermingle in his memory. Resurrection Blues (2002) is Miller's astonishing black comedy set in a South American banana republic, that satirises global politics and the predatory nature of a media saturated culture. The volume also features a chronology of the writer's work and an introduction by Enoch Brater, professor of English Literature at the University of Michigan.

The second volume in Methuen Drama's series of the definitive works of Arthur Miller.

Pre-University Paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, , language: English, abstract: Arthur Miller, one of the most important sociocritical dramatists of the 20th century, treats in his famous play The Crucible the witch hunts of Salem in 1692. Considering this drama, the biography of Miller and the political situation in the date of origin of The Crucible, I would like to clarify the coherences between the drama and the highhanded persecution of inculpable humans in the American 1950s, at the time of McCarthyism. The first part of my work deals with Arthur Miller, his life and his play The Crucible. In this part I would like to elucidate Miller’s personal connection to the anti-communist campaign. Furthermore, I would like to show the destructiveness of rumours with regard to the executions happened in the late 17th century and accurate reflected in The Crucible. Moreover, I will enlarge upon the effects of the religion, in this case Puritanism, on the behaviour of the bourgeois and the justice. The second part of my work deals with Joseph McCarthy, his life, the commencements of McCarthyism, the course of the trials and decline of McCarthyism. In this part I would like to show the arbitrariness of Joseph McCarthy with which he accused innocent people. Furthermore, I will enlarge on the cruelly effects of such persecutions, which destroy the person’s futures and, as to The Crucible, the whole life. Part three of my work will consist of conclusions about the impact of McCarthyism and Arthur Miller’s drama The Crucible.

October 2003

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2.0, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: He wants to live on through something - and in his case, his masterpiece is his son. I think all of us want that, and it gets more poignant as we get more anonymous in this world. This quote, said by the author of Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller in 1984, provides just a slight insight into the father-son relationship of Willy and Biff Loman which I will analyze in the present term paper in depth. Moreover, I will have a closer look at the Loman family and how they interact. Firstly, the author will be briefly introduced and the background and the reasons for writing the play are pointed out. Furthermore I will give an overview of the drama and its structure and formal aspects. After this my attention will be directed on the Loman family and I will initially focus on its members and characterize them. Then I will analyze how the relationship between Willy and Biff has developed and why it fails during the play. Finally, I will give a conclusion which will sum up the most important findings which I figured out during my analysis.

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Münster (Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Advanced Seminar Modern American Drama, language: English, abstract: As Arthur Miller states in his autobiography,1 The Crucible has become his most frequently produced play. This great success of a conventional drama can certainly not be explained without regard to its political message. When the play was first performed in 1953, its audiences were quick to recognize the connections between the witch craze in 17th century Massachusetts and the American anti-communist hysteria of their own time. Like any literary text, The Crucible reflects the conditions under which it was produced, and Miller himself says that he could not have written it at any other time.2 Since in this case parallels between the events in both times are extremely striking, it seems necessary for the understanding and interpretation of the play to explain its dual historical context. At the same time, it would be wrong to interpret Miller’s drama against this background only. Or, as Reitz puts it: “The Crucible ist kein Schlüsseldrama, das auf die vordergründige Aktualität von Wiedererkennungseffekten setzt und zu diesem Zweck Anhänger und Gegner McCarthys als Puritaner (...) kostümiert“.3 Miklos Trocsanyi argues similarly, pointing out that Miller was glad, when in the contemporary criticism (...) less and less mention was made of and parallel drawn between the witchcraft hysteria and McCarthyism. It meant that the deeper message was more and more appreciated.4 Finding out about this “deeper message” is what the analysis of the dual historical context aims at. Therefore this research paper will, after explaining the historical circumstances of both the Salem witch hunt and the American anticommunism under McCarthy, focus on parallel phenomena underlying the events in both times. This comparison, which will be made from a psychological point of view, is intended to reveal why Miller’s play “is presently being approached more and more frequently as a cultural and historical study rather than a political allegory”.5