Collected Essays

by Arthur Miller, Susan C. W. Abbotson (Introduction)

Arthur Miller was not only one of America's most important twentieth-century playwrights, but he was also one of its most influential literary, cultural, and intellectual voices. Throughout his career, he consistently remained one of the country's leading public intellectuals, advocating tirelessly for social justice, global democracy, and the arts. Theater scholar Susan C. W. Abbotson introduces this volume as a selection of Miller's finest essays, organized in three thematic parts: essays on the theater, essays on specific plays like Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, and sociopolitical essays on topics spanning from the Depression to the twenty-first century. Written with playful wit, clear-eyed intellect, and above all, human dignity, these essays offer unmatched insight into the work of Arthur Miller and the turbulent times through which he guided his country.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 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: Essays, Nonfiction, Classics

560 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2016

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

[Kathy Duffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thrilled to win this from goodreads giveaway site as Arthur Miller is one of our greatest dramatists and although I had taken a course devoted to his plays back in college, I had not read most of his essays. This marvelous collection led me down several research rabbit holes and I tried to track down a few of the later plays [The American Clock, Incident at Vichy] and some of the plays especially by Odets. And then I had to reread the Crucible in light of today's political nonsense -- we should be bringing that back to stages all across the country along with Ibsen's Enemy of the People. I was fascinated to read that the Crucible has been performed in country's all over the world with various types of governments - monarchy's, dictatorships (though usually as one falls in Latin America), Communist, and Socialist -- and that all the audiences relate to the message of that play. Discussions on how various countries support the theater arts versus how we are doing it in this country was illuminating.

And I got to the essays on McCarthyism...loyalty pledges? Seems like it was ripped from the headlines of yesterdays NYT. And where is this generations Edward R. Murrow? The essays he wrote as head of the PEN organization on Germany, on German re-unification, and Israel were also very interesting. The Essay "What's Wrong with This Picture? Speculations on a Handmade Greeting Card" was chilling. I will be keeping this book on my treasures book shelf.