Picture of author.

Arthur Miller (1) (1915–2005)

Author of The Crucible: Text and Criticism

For other authors named Arthur Miller, see the disambiguation page.

156+ Works 36,690 Members 390 Reviews 47 Favorited

About the Author

The son of a well-to-do New York Jewish family, Miller graduated from high school and then went to work in a warehouse. He was born on October 17, 1915, in Harlem, New York City. His plays have been called "political," but he considers the areas of literature and politics to be quite separate and show more has said, "The only sure and valid aim---speaking of art as a weapon---is the humanizing of man." The recurring theme of all his plays is the relationship between a man's identity and the image that society demands of him. After two years, he entered the University of Michigan, where he soon started writing plays. All My Sons (1947), a Broadway success that won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1947, tells the story of a son, home from the war, who learns that his brother's death was due to defective airplane parts turned out by their profiteering father. Death of a Salesman (1949), Miller's experimental yet classical American tragedy, received both the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1949. It is a poignant statement of a man facing himself and his failure. In The Crucible (1953), a play about bigotry in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, Miller brings into focus the social tragedy of a society gone mad, as well as the agony of a heroic individual. The play was generally considered to be a comment on the McCarthyism of its time. Miller himself appeared before the Congressional Un-American Activities Committee and steadfastly refused to involve his friends and associates when questioned about them. His screenplay for The Misfits (1961), from his short story, was written for his second wife, actress Marilyn Monroe (see Vol. 3); After the Fall (1964) has clear autobiographical overtones and involves the story of this ill-fated marriage as well as further dealing with Miller's experiences with McCarthyism. In the one-act Incident at Vichy (1964), a group of men are picked off the streets one morning during the Nazi occupation of France. The Price (1968) is a psychological drama concerning two brothers, one a police officer, one a wealthy surgeon, whose long-standing conflict is explored over the disposal of their father's furniture. The Creation of the World and Other Business (1973) is a retelling of the story of Genesis, attempted as a comedy. The American Clock (1980) explores the impact of the Depression on the nation and its individual citizens. Among Miller's most recent works is Danger: Memory! (1987), a study of two elderly friends. During the 1980s, almost all of Miller's plays were given major British revivals, and the playwright's work has been more popular in Britain than in the United States of late. Miller died of heart failure after a battle against cancer, pneumonia and congestive heart disease at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He was 89 years old. (Bowker Author Biography) Arthur Miller, American playwright, was born on October 17, 1915, in New York City. He earned an AB from the University of Michigan and began to write plays while still a student. He won the first of his many awards, the Avery Hopwood Prize of the University of Michigan, for his first play, Honors at Dawn. This was followed by many other award-winning plays. One of the best-known of these, Death of a Salesman, won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1949 as well as a Drama Critics Circle Award; it continues to be one of the most frequently performed and adapted plays of this century. Some of his other titles include The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, The Misfits, After the Fall, and Vichy. Miller also wrote several travel pieces, including In Russia and Chinese Encounters (both in collaboration with his third wife, Ingeborg Morath); a novel, Focus; and the autobiography, Timebends: A Life. Arthur Miller was married to Mary Grace Slattery in 1940. They had two children and were divorced in 1952. In 1956, he married actress Marilyn Monroe and they divorced in 1961. He married Morath in 1962 and they have two children together. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library

Series

Works by Arthur Miller

The Crucible: Text and Criticism (1953) — Author — 14,941 copies
Death of a Salesman (1948) 11,872 copies
A View from the Bridge (1955) 1,064 copies
All My Sons (1947) 1,052 copies
After the Fall (1964) 593 copies
Timebends: A Life (1987) 561 copies
The Portable Arthur Miller (1971) 400 copies
Focus (1945) 390 copies
An Enemy of the People (1950) 335 copies
The Price (1968) — Author — 275 copies
Incident at Vichy [2016 TV movie] (1964) — Play — 244 copies
The Misfits (1961) — Author — 155 copies
The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991) 143 copies
Presence: Stories (2007) 134 copies
Broken Glass (1994) 130 copies
Plain Girl (1992) — Author — 99 copies
Collected Plays 1964-1982 (2012) 98 copies
Collected Plays (1957) 92 copies
The Misfits [1961 film] (1961) — Screenwriter — 91 copies
Playing for Time (1985) 73 copies
I Don't Need You Any More (1967) — Author — 71 copies
The Penguin Arthur Miller: Collected Plays (2015) — Author — 66 copies
Danger: Memory! (1986) 58 copies
Collected Plays 1987-2004 (2015) 54 copies
Resurrection Blues (2002) 52 copies
Death of a Salesman [1985 TV movie] (1985) — Screenwriter — 52 copies
The American Clock (1980) 47 copies
The Crucible: A Screenplay (1996) 46 copies
The Last Yankee (1991) 44 copies
Chinese Encounters (1979) 42 copies
Salesman in Beijing (1984) 35 copies
Mr. Peters' Connections (1998) — Author — 34 copies
A Memory of Two Mondays (1955) 33 copies
The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977) 30 copies
In Russia (1969) 23 copies
Jane's Blanket (1963) 20 copies
Hexenjagd: Der Tod Des Handlungsreisenden (1960) — Author — 17 copies
Playing for Time [1980 film] (1980) — Writer — 12 copies
Teatro 11 copies
Some Kind of Love Story (1983) 11 copies
Drámák (1974) 9 copies
Teatro reunido (2015) 8 copies
Elegy For a Lady. (1982) 7 copies
Plays : one (1986) 6 copies
Collected Plays: v. 1 (1974) 5 copies
Final Edition (1981) 4 copies
Everybody Wins [1990 film] (2005) — Writer — 4 copies
Stücke 1 (2009) 3 copies
Enchanté de vous connaître (Pavillons poche) (2013) — Author — 2 copies
Pascal Covici, 1888-1964 (1964) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Misfits 1 copy
Dramak 1 copy
Bulldog [short story] (1983) 1 copy
I Kina (1979) 1 copy
TDR #177 1 copy

Associated Works

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) — Introduction, some editions — 7,783 copies
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 904 copies
Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number (1980) — Foreword, some editions — 463 copies
Six Great Modern Plays (1956) — Contributor — 460 copies
The Best American Short Stories 2002 (2002) — Contributor — 456 copies
Telling Tales (2004) — Contributor — 341 copies
Literature: The Human Experience (2006) — Contributor — 335 copies
24 Favorite One Act Plays (1958) — Contributor — 277 copies
Famous American Plays of the 1940s (1900) — Contributor — 224 copies
The Best American Essays 1999 (1999) — Contributor — 183 copies
Masterpieces of the Drama (1966) — Contributor — 175 copies
This Is My Best: Great Writers Share Their Favorite Work (2004) — Contributor — 157 copies
Writers at Work 03 (1967) — Interviewee — 139 copies
Granta 78: Bad Company (2002) — Contributor — 136 copies
New voices in the American theatre (1955) — Contributor — 113 copies
Telling Tales and Other New One-Act Plays (1993) — Contributor — 108 copies
One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater (1961) — Contributor — 102 copies
The Crucible [1996 film] (1997) — Original play — 90 copies
Great Esquire Fiction (1983) — Contributor — 70 copies
Contemporary Drama: 15 Plays (1959) — Contributor — 68 copies
Best American Plays: Third Series, 1945-1951 (1952) — Contributor — 66 copies
The Jewish Writer (1998) — Contributor — 50 copies
Contemporary Drama - 11 Plays (1956) — Contributor — 43 copies
Modern and Contemporary Drama (1958) — Contributor — 43 copies
Best American Plays: Fourth Series, 1951-1957 (1958) — Contributor — 39 copies
Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition (2003) — Afterword — 33 copies
14 great plays (1977) — Contributor — 31 copies
50 Best Plays of the American Theatre [4-volume set] (1969) — Contributor — 31 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1967 (1967) — Contributor — 27 copies
The Best American Political Writing 2002 (2002) — Contributor — 26 copies
Best American Plays: 7th Series, 1967-1973 (1975) — Contributor — 24 copies
America on Stage : Ten Great Plays of American History (1976) — Contributor — 22 copies
Inge Morath: The Road to Reno (2006) — Afterword, some editions — 21 copies
Death of a Salesman [1966 TV movie] (1966) — Original play — 13 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1962 (1962) — Contributor — 12 copies
The Best American Short Stories 1960 (1960) — Contributor — 11 copies
Brooklyn Bridge [1981 TV episode] (2004) — Narrator — 9 copies
Focus [2001 movie] (2002) 6 copies
All My Sons [1987 TV movie] — Original play — 2 copies
After the Fall [1974 TV movie] — Original play — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (520) America (140) American (561) American drama (156) American literature (899) anthology (350) Arthur Miller (261) autobiography (99) biography (119) classic (683) classics (792) drama (3,578) English (107) essays (158) fiction (2,028) historical fiction (289) history (135) literature (758) Miller (110) New Orleans (102) non-fiction (205) own (133) paperback (119) play (1,781) plays (2,064) Pulitzer Prize (112) read (502) Salem (135) Salem Witch Trials (189) school (119) script (221) short stories (237) theatre (1,214) to-read (1,023) tragedy (198) unread (122) USA (206) witchcraft (147) witches (122) writing (108)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

I cry like a baby. The language is so full of vitality and power. The characters are vividly drawn. The play puts up a horrifying mirror in which we see the sociological, political, and philosophical folly of human society. Readers understand, just as John Proctor does, that a contagious derangement has descended upon Salem, and yet we manufacture that Salem again and again in new and more deranged ways. Just an amazing portrait of moral failure with a stunning glimpse of redemption.
 
Flagged
BeauxArts79 | 155 other reviews | Nov 5, 2023 |
So
Many
Characters!

This was an interesting take on the trials in Salem, some things true and some imagined. As you were supposed to, I hated Abigail and loved Elizabeth, her husband was a supreme jerk. Also, unrelated, the way all the men call the women “Woman” was a little abrupt, but I could see it being true (though I don’t know for sure).
 
Flagged
Danielle.Desrochers | 155 other reviews | Oct 10, 2023 |
"The Price" is my favorite of all the plays I've read by Arthur Miller thus far. Within this drama, the characters are flawed, contradictory, disturbed, frustrated, in denial, good, and bad. Because I'm the same age as the protagonist / antagonist, Victor, I viscerally relate to the dilemma / mid-life crisis he's experiencing. Is it too late for that second chance--too late for Victor to actually make something of himself as he conceived when he was young and not so disillusioned? There's not much time left to act--the clock is ticking. The power struggle between the two brothers, Victor and Walter, manifests quite civilly--though the rage simmers, it is rarely violent. It could be said that Walter, the more "successful" of the two brothers, is also the more secure of the two. Walter has always known what he wanted and he goes for it; nothing stops him. Whereas Victor, being less sure, is propped up by the presence of his wife, Esther--who "thinks" for Victor. It's as if Esther functions as Victor's superego; perhaps Victor is not strong enough to face Walter on his own. Everything crystallizes in Act II (Walter appears at the end of Act I); in Act I, skeptical Victor is getting ripped off by Solomon, the appraiser. That transaction sums up the entire problem with Victor's life--he's a guy who's always settling, never risking for the potentially big payoff. On the other hand, possibly Solomon is doing Victor a favor, taking this junk furniture off his hands--maybe Solomon is relieving Victor of that chip on his shoulder he's been carrying around for all those years. In the final scene of Act II of "The Price", Solomon laughs hysterically and uncontrollably by himself, relieved of yet another day of insidious wheeling and dealing. Is he a madman? A saint? Or both? Postscriptum--Although the play is divided into two acts, in the Author's Production Note on the final page of this text, Miller writes that " ..... an unbroken performance is preferable".… (more)
 
Flagged
stephencbird | 3 other reviews | Sep 19, 2023 |

Lists

(1)
1940s (1)
AP Lit (2)
1950s (1)

Awards

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Gerald Weales Editor, Contributor
Edward Albee Contributor
Archibald MacLeish Contributor
William Hawkins Contributor
John Mason Brown Contributor
Harold Clurman Contributor, Editor
George Ross Contributor
Joseph A. Hynes Contributor
Jo Mielzinger Contributor
William Wiegand Contributor
Allan Seager Contributor
Irwin Shaw Contributor
Eudora Welty Contributor
Robert Garland Contributor
Raymond Williams Contributor
Tennessee Williams Contributor
T. C. Worsley Contributor
John Gassner Contributor
Walter D. Moody Contributor
Ivor Brown Contributor
William Beyer Contributor
Judah Bierman Contributor
A. Howard Fuller Contributor
Eleanor Clark Contributor
Kate Reid Actor
Stacy Keach Narrator
Thomas Martin Translator
Pascal Covici, Jr. Contributor
Saul Bellow Contributor
John Steinbeck Contributor
Joseph Campbell Contributor
Malcom Cowley Contributor
Henning Boehlke Cover designer
Christopher Bigsby Editor, Introduction
Richard Watts Introduction
Stacey Keach Narrator
E. R. Wood Introduction
Sanford Kossin Cover artist
Riccardo Vecchio Cover artist
Matt Vee Cover designer
Hugo Seinfeld Translator
Paul Buckley Cover designer
Lynn Nottage Foreword
Hermann Stiehl Translator

Statistics

Works
156
Also by
55
Members
36,690
Popularity
#499
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
390
ISBNs
793
Languages
24
Favorited
47

Charts & Graphs