The Penguin Arthur Miller: Collected Plays

by Arthur Miller, Lynn Nottage (Foreword)

To celebrate the centennial of his birth, the collected plays of America’s greatest twentieth-century dramatist in a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
 
In the history of postwar American art and politics, Arthur Miller casts a long shadow as a playwright of stunning range and power whose works held up a mirror to America and its shifting values. The Penguin Arthur Miller celebrates Miller’s creative and intellectual legacy by bringing together the breadth of his plays, which span the decades from the 1930s to the new millennium. From his quiet debut,  The Man Who Had All the Luck , and  All My Sons , the follow-up that established him as a major talent, to career hallmarks like  The Crucible  and  Death of a Salesman , and later works like  Mr. Peters’ Connections  and  Resurrection Blues , the range and courage of Miller’s moral and artistic vision are here on full display.

Including eighteen plays—some known by all and others that will come as discoveries to many readers— The Penguin Arthur Miller is a collectible treasure for fans of Miller’s drama and an indispensable resource for students of the theatre.

The Penguin Arthur Miller The Man Who Had All the Luck , All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , An Enemy of the People , The Crucible , A View from the Bridge , After the Fall , Incident at Vichy , The Price , The Creation of the World and Other Business , The Archbishop’s Ceiling , The American Clock , Playing for Time , The Ride Down Mt. Morgan , The Last Yankee , Broken Glass , Mr. Peters’ Connections , and Resurrection Blues . 

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Fiction, American, Collections, Literature

1312 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Works of American playwright Arthur Asher Miller include Death of a Salesman (1949), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, and The Crucible (1953).


This essayist, a prominent figure in literature and cinema for over 61 years, composed a wide variety, such as celebrated A View from the Bridge and All My Sons , still studied and performed worldwide. Miller often in the public eye most famously refused to give evidence to the un-American activities committee of the House of Representatives, received award for drama, and married Marilyn Monroe. People at the time considered the greatest Miller.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_...

Reviews

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will review plays under title but my highlights and notes are located here. Great navigation and no errors detected thus far.

[Tim Wadham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death of a Salesman still slays all these many years later. Willy Loman is poignant as ever as a figure of broken dreams, loss of employment and self-esteem and the toll they take on a man who is told that he should be the provider, and be successful in the work world.

[Amber Dickinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily: Tell me, Henri, as a truth-loving philosopher — wouldn’t you gladly resign from the human race if only there was another one to belong to?

Henri: Oh, of course. But are we sure it would be any better?


Finally finished the biggest book known to mankind. Loved it all so much. Every single play was great in some way. I loved the style of writing and all the different themes Miller chose to talk about. I think out of 18 plays I only disliked one - Mr. Peters’ Connections - couldn’t make any sense of it.

I really enjoyed re-reading all the classics, but also loved reading his lesser-known works. My favourites were: An Enemy of the People, The Creation of the World and Other Business, The Archbishop’s Ceiling, Playing for Time, The ride down Mt. Morgan, Broken Glass and Resurrection Blues, so most of them really.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arthur Miller, on his birthday October 17
Social responsibility and the project of becoming human, the interrogation and reformation of the American national character, goals, and ideals, family and nation, freedom and state terror; Arthur Miller seems newly relevant today.
Death of a Salesman presents themes of memory, history, identity, truth and illusion; a play of family relationships and the Great American Dream based on Sophocles' King Oedipus. A secondary thematic structure investigates the value of moral versus material values, and the dehumanizing consumerism and amoral competition which must inevitably fail us.
The Crucible is the classic comparison of the McCarthy communist-hunting era and the Salem witch trials; a terrifying exploration of the group's power over the individual, of the necessity for freedom of conscience and the heroism of standing up for what is true and right in the face of overwhelming force.
Incident at Vichy explores guilt and complicity, fear and dehumanization, and how the Nazis made the Holocaust happen by generalizing responsibility so that there are no persons, only gears in a bewildering chain of command.
The Archbishop's Ceiling presents Arthur Miller's art manifesto, in which art is a creative force rather than a mimetic limiting factor of history and memory, in a curious play of truth and lies. In a palace behind the Iron Curtain, a man chooses whether to accept imprisonment by the regime or defect to America.
Resurrection Blues, in which Jesus may or may not have returned, explores the benefits and dangers of belief of all kinds. Subtle and nuanced, this final work is set in a prison where a tyrannical General and his prisoner, a revolutionary leader with mysterious powers, struggle in games of dialectical questioning.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 Stars. All My Sons. Wow-za! I liked this more than the Crucible or Death of a Salesman. It was more direct which is more my personal reading preference. I would recommend starting with this play if you're getting into Miller. I have Kindle highlights from this play where he talks about how it feels like during war vs. how it feels like to return home. I was struck by how similar this feeling is described in other sources with later was like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is easy to see why this play put Miller on the map. I found it moving.

3 Stars. Death of a Salesman. Spark notes really helped with the historical context and gave me a better understanding of why this play is so well known. I read it through on my own and was able to follow the plot and comprehend it okay. However, when I finished it I couldn’t figure out why it is such a big deal. When I turned to Sparknotes I read through the summaries, did the full book quiz, and explored the literary devices but the further study section was where I found an explanation of the play’s significance. Post WWII artists were challenging the tie between materialism and social standing being tied to the American Dream. They were also captivated by Sigmund Freud’s theories and existentialism so they were more introspective and thinking about how they could navigate their lives on their own terms. Willy the dad represents how the materialist American Dream can grind a person down. Biff, the grown son, represents the new way of thinking. Biff chooses to accept that what is best for him may not please his father. His body was built for working outside on a ranch not for getting by on his smile as a salesman. I can see now why this struck a chord with folks.

[Jiwon Kim]

Only read 'Death of a Salesman', 'The Crucible' and the Foreword. Honestly I'm not sold by his script :/ maybe I need to see the plays to feel his words come to life.

Quotes:
1. [Foreword] But, in many respects, I learned my craft by reading the plays of Miller, dissecting the careful way he used the poetry of everyday speech to shape and interrogate his characters. He wrote from a place of passion and conviction, never passive about his belief that drama should have social impact. He used the small rebellions and conflicts of the common man in order to stage a larger conversation with history.
2. [Death of a Salesman] Willy: They don't need me in New York. I'm the New England man. I'm vital in New England.
3. [Doas] Happy is tall, powerfully made. Sexuality is like a visible color on him, or a scent that many women have discovered. He, like his brother, is lost, but in a different way, for he has never allowed himself to turn his face toward defeat and is thus more confused and hard-skinned, although seemingly more content.
4. [Doas] Boston is the cradle of the Revolution. A fine city.
5. [The Crucible] Lilacs have a purple smell. Lilac is the smell of nightfall, I think. Massachusetts is a beauty in the spring!
6. [tc] Proctor: I have no knowledge of it; the Bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them.
7. [tc] Proctor: I - I have no love for Mr. Parris. It is no secret. But God I surely love.

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

DEATH OF A SALESMAN 5/5
THE CRUCIBLE 4/5
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE 3.5/5
THE PRICE 5/5

[Aaron Moss]

The Man Who Had All the Luck: 5 stars
All My Sons: 5 stars
Death of a Salesman: 5 stars
An Enemy of the People: 5 stars
The Crucible: 5 stars
A View from the Bridge: 4.5 stars

[EatMelons · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked his plays! i think arthur miller always picks out an interesting part of society to talk about.

[Catherine Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5

I much prefer and enjoy Miller's earlier works as opposed to the things he wrote from around 1980 up until the time of his death. The more recent pieces were just too strange/eccentric or left me thinking, "Boy, that was dumb."

But the earlier stuff...I can see why those plays have made him an important figure in this genre. A handful of these dramas I'm sure I'll go back and re-read at some point. Miller's getting a mixed review from me, though, because I can't find him reliable from piece to piece.

[Timothy]

***** The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944)
***** All My Sons (1947)
**** Death of a Salesman (1949)
***** An Enemy of the People (1950)
The Crucible (1953)
A View from the Bridge (1955)
After the Fall (1964)
Incident at Vichy (1964)
The Price (1968)
**** The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972)
The Archbishop’s Ceiling (1977)
The American Clock (1980)
Playing for Time (1980)
The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991)
The Last Yankee (1993)
Broken Glass (1994)
Mr. Peters’ Connections (1998)
Resurrection Blues (2002)

[Alan Teasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

For OLLI class, I've read The Man Who Had All the Luck, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall, The Price, & Broken Glass.