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

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Series

Arthur Miller: Plays

Works by Arthur Miller

Popular Recent

The Crucible: Text and Criticism (1953) — Author — 14,941 copies

Death of a Salesman (1948) 11,872 copies

Death of a Salesman [critical edition] (1967) 1,247 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

A View from the Bridge & All My Sons (1961) 328 copies

Arthur Miller: Collected Plays 1944-1961 (Library of America) (2000) 294 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

The Crucible: Text and Criticism (1971) 135 copies

Presence: Stories (2007) 134 copies

Broken Glass (1994) 130 copies

Echoes Down the Corridor: Collected Essays, 1944-2000 (2000) 116 copies

Homely Girl, A Life: And Other Stories (1992) 104 copies

Miller Plays 1: All My Sons / Death of a Salesman / The Crucible / A Memory of Two Mondays / A View from the Bridge (1988) 103 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

On Politics and the Art of Acting (2001) 81 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

The Crucible and Related Readings (1996) 65 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 Man Who Had All the Luck (1940) 51 copies

The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972) 51 copies

The Misfits, story of a shoot (1672) 48 copies

The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller (1978) 47 copies

The American Clock (1980) 47 copies

The Crucible: A Screenplay (1996) 46 copies

The Last Yankee (1991) 44 copies

Eight Plays: All My Sons / Death of a Salesman / The Crucible; A Memory of Two Mondays; A View from the Bridge / After… (1981) 44 copies

Chinese Encounters (1979) 42 copies

The Archbishop's Ceiling and the American Clock: Two Plays (1989) 36 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

The Last Yankee & Broken Glass (1994) 26 copies

In Russia (1969) 23 copies

The Crucible (Library Edition Audio CDs) (2000) 23 copies

All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall (1995) 23 copies

Jane's Blanket (1963) 20 copies

Miller Plays 2: The Misfits / After the Fall / Incident at Vichy / The Price / The Creation of the World and Other… (1988) 20 copies

The Misfits: And Other Stories (Scribner Signature Edition) (1987) 18 copies

Hexenjagd: Der Tod Des Handlungsreisenden (1960) — Author — 17 copies

The Arthur Miller Audio Collection (2002) 15 copies

The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1986) 13 copies

Playing for Time [1980 film] (1980) — Writer — 12 copies

Penguin Plays: New American Drama (1966) 11 copies

Teatro 11 copies

Some Kind of Love Story (1983) 11 copies

Collected Essays: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (2016) 11 copies

Arthur Miller's Collected Plays Volume II (2015) 11 copies

Plays: Death of a Salesman, J.B., A Delicate Balance (1986) 10 copies

Everybody Wins: A Screenplay (1984) 10 copies

Drámák (1974) 9 copies

The Collected Plays of Arthur Miller. Vol. 2 8 copies

Teatro reunido (2015) 8 copies

Miller Plays 3: American Clock / The Archbishop's Ceiling / Two-Way Mirror (1990) 8 copies

Two-way Mirror: "Elegy for a Lady" and "Some Kind of Love Story" (Modern Plays) (1982) 8 copies

A Morte de Um Caixeiro-Viajante e Outras 4 Peças (Em Portuguese do Brasil) (2009) 8 copies

Miller Plays 4: Golden Years / The Man Who Had All the Luck / I Can't Remember Anything / Clara (1994) 7 copies

Conversations With Arthur Miller (Literary Conversations Series) (1987) 7 copies

Miller Plays 6: Broken Glass; Mr Peter's Connections; Resurrection Blues; Finishing the Picture (World Classics):… (2009) 7 copies

Elegy For a Lady. (1982) 7 copies

The collected essays of Arthur Miller (2015) 6 copies

The Crucible = (Die Hexenjagd): An Opera in 4 Acts [vocal score] (1963) — Playwright — 6 copies

Plays : one (1986) 6 copies

Muerte de un viajante (pdf) (2015) 5 copies

The Last Yankee with A new Essay About Theatre Language And Broken Glass (1994) 5 copies

The Crucible in History and Other Essays (2000) 5 copies

Collected Plays: v. 1 (1974) 5 copies

La política i l'art d'actuar (2002) 5 copies

Two Plays: The American Clock, The Arch-Bishop's Ceiling (1989) 5 copies

Final Edition (1981) 4 copies

Miller Plays 5: Last Yankee / The Ride Down Mount Morgan / Almost Everybody Wins (1995) 4 copies

Collected plays, 1944-1961 (2011) 4 copies

Death of a Salesman: Revised Edition (Critical Library, Viking) (1996) 4 copies

Na de zondeval ; Incident in Vichy 4 copies

Everybody Wins [1990 film] (2005) — Writer — 4 copies

Teatro (La muerte de un viajante, Todos eran mis hijos) (1959) — Author — 3 copies

Todos Eran Mis Hijos & Despues De La Caida / All My Sons & After the Fall (Gran Teatro) (Spanish Edition) (2004) 3 copies

Death of a Salesman, etc 3 copies

A view from the bridge : an opera in two acts ; libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Arthur Miller (2002) 3 copies

The Golden Years / The Man Who Had All The Luck (1989) 3 copies

The Crucible Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc; Later Edition edition (1998) 3 copies

Stücke 1 (2009) 3 copies

I presidenti americani e l'arte di recitare (2001) 3 copies

Mr. Peters' Connections - Acting Edition (1998) 3 copies

Lasst sie bitte leben: Short Stories (1998) 3 copies

Teatro. Erano tutti miei figli. Morte di un commesso viaggiatore. Il crogiuolo. Ricordo di due lunedÝ. Uno sguardo dal… 2 copies

The Crucible / A View from the Bridge (1965) 2 copies

The Classic Plays (Penguin Modern Classics) (2015) 2 copies

Enchanté de vous connaître (Pavillons poche) (2013) — Author — 2 copies

Widerhall der Zeit : Essays (2003) 2 copies

Arthur Miller. Gesammelte Erzählungen (1969) 2 copies

The Pussycat and the Expert Plumber Who Was a Man 2 copies

"Death of a salesman" in Beijing (2015) 2 copies

Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller (2017) 2 copies

Op zoek naar een toekomst verhalen (2012) 2 copies

Ricordo di due lunedì (in Teatro) (1960) 2 copies

The crucible: Play and study notes 2 copies

Les sorcières de salem suivi de vu du pont (1962) 2 copies

Pascal Covici, 1888-1964 (1964) — Contributor — 2 copies

Death of a Salesman. Interpretationshilfe. (Advanced). (Lernmaterialien) 2 copies

All My Sons, Vienna's English Theatre 2 copies

By Arthur Miller Las Brujas De Salem, El Crisol / The Salem Witches,The Crucible (Spanish Edition) (Tra) [Paperback] (1653) 1 copy

The Misfits 1 copy

Rare Arthur Miller DEATH OF A SALESMAN First UK Edition signed 1st Edition -Cresset Press (1949) 1 copy

Rare Arthur Miller / Death of a Salesman Signed 1st Edition 1981 1 copy

Arthur Miller's Collected Plays - The Franklin Library - Allan Mardon Illustrations 1 copy

Arthur Miller's adaptation of: An Enemy of the People 1 copy

The Portable Arthur Miller - Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, Incident at Vichy, The PRice, Misfits, Fame, Fitter's… 1 copy

Dramak 1 copy

The Crucible - Spoken Arts 1 copy

BRUJAS DE SALEM, LAS - EL CRISOL (Spanish Edition) (2011) 1 copy

Death Of A Salesman - Act 1 & 2 1 copy

The Crucible, Plays in Performance, STC (1995) 1 copy

Enchanté de vous connaître : Et autres nouvelles (2005) 1 copy

Neue Stücke : Talfahrt / Der letzte Yankee / Scherben. Drei Dramen (1995) 1 copy

Bulldog [short story] (1983) 1 copy

Situation Normal 1 copy

I Kina (1979) 1 copy

A View from the Bridge & A Memory of Two Mondays: The Play 1 copy

Five Plays by Arthur Miller 1 copy

Collected plays of Arthur Miller 1 copy

Dramen. Hexenjagd - Der Tod ded Handlungdreisenden - Blick von der Brücke - Erinnerung an zwei Montage 1 copy

Elements of Literature The Crucible (1959) 1 copy

TDR #177 1 copy

Four Plays: Death of a Salesman; The Crucible; incident at Vichy; The Price 1 copy

The Death of a Salesman 1 copy

Todos eran mis hijos ; Después de la caída 1 copy

Arthur Miller's Lecture at Columbia (11/17/1997) 1 copy

Arthur Miller Reading from Mr. Peters' Connections and Columbia University (11/17/1997) 1 copy

Miller Arthur 1 copy

Lektürehilfen Miller Death of a Salesman. Materialien. (Lernmaterialien) 1 copy

SCRIPT: The Crucible 1 copy

The Crucible - Multiple Critical Perspectives (2008) 1 copy

En handelsreisendes død : noen fortrolige samtaler i to akter og et rekviem 1 copy

The Crucible - Hexenjagd von Arthur Miller: Textanalyse und Interpretation mit ausführlicher Inhaltsangabe und… (2013) 1 copy

Miller Plays 1: All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A Memory of Two Mondays, A View from the Bridge (World… (2009) 1 copy

Arthur Miller's Collected Plays - The Franklin Library - Allan Mardon Illustrations (1981) 1 copy

The Crucible 🎭 ❤ ✓ (Live Theatre-Imperial Theatre) 1 copy

Penguin Plays, The Crucible 1 copy

Work Explorer

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

For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 447 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

Writers on Writing, 2: More Collected Essays from the New York Times (2003) — Contributor — 183 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

Playwrights on Playwriting: The Meaning and Making of Modern Drama from Ibsen to Ionesco (1960) — Contributor — 107 copies

One Act: Eleven Short Plays of the Modern Theater (1961) — Contributor — 102 copies

The Crucible [1996 film] (1997) — Original play — 90 copies

Who’s Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 73 copies

Great Esquire Fiction (1983) — Contributor — 70 copies

Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2003) — Contributor — 68 copies

Contemporary Drama: 15 Plays (1959) — Contributor — 68 copies

Best American Plays: Third Series, 1945-1951 (1952) — Contributor — 66 copies

Genesis as It Is Written: Contemporary Writers on Our First Stories (1996) — Contributor — 59 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

Three Plays About Business in America: The Adding Machine, Beggar on Horseback, All My Sons (1964) — Contributor — 36 copies

In Search of the Simple Life: American Voices, Past and Present (1986) — Contributor — 35 copies

Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition (2003) — Afterword — 33 copies

A Treasury of the Theatre: From Henrik Ibsen to Eugène Ionesco (1960) — Contributor — 31 copies

14 great plays (1977) — Contributor — 31 copies

50 Best Plays of the American Theatre [4-volume set] (1969) — Contributor — 31 copies

Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 29 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

Mystery in the Mainstream: An Anthology of Literary Crimes (1986) — Contributor — 9 copies

Brooklyn Bridge [1981 TV episode] (2004) — Narrator — 9 copies

Focus [2001 movie] (2002) 6 copies

Antaeus No. 73/74, Spring 1994 - Who’s Writing This: Notations on the Authorial I {magazine} (1994) — Contributor — 5 copies

50 Best Plays of the American Theatre, Volume 4 — Contributor — 4 copies

All My Sons [1987 TV movie] — Original play — 2 copies

After the Fall [1974 TV movie] — Original play — 1 copy

32 Współczesne Opowiadania Amerykańskie - Tom I — Contributor — 1 copy

50 Best Plays of the American Theatre, Volume 3 — Contributor — 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

Legal name: Miller, Arthur Asher
Birthdate: 1915-10-17
Date of death: 2005-02-10
Burial location: Great Oak Cemetery, Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Place of death: Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Places of residence: New York, New York, USA
Roxbury, Connecticut, USA
Education: University of Michigan (BA | English | 1938)
Occupations: playwright
novelist
essayist
autobiographer
short-story writer
Relationships: Monroe, Marilyn (spouse|divorced)
Morath, Inge (spouse)
Miller, Rebecca (daughter)
Awards and honors: National Book Award, Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (2001)
Laura Pels Foundation Awards for Drama (1998)
Jerusalem Prize (2003)
National Medal of Arts (1993)
Kennedy Center Honors (1984)
Premio Príncipe de Asturias ( [2002]) (show all 8)
Jefferson Lecture (2001)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (Literature ∙ 1958)

Members

Reviews

The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts (Penguin Modern… by Arthur Miller

I love John.

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VidKid369 | 155 other reviews | Dec 2, 2023 |

The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts by Arthur Miller

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.

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BeauxArts79 | 155 other reviews | Nov 5, 2023 |

The Crucible (Turtleback School & Library Binding… by Arthur Miller

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).

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Danielle.Desrochers | 155 other reviews | Oct 10, 2023 |

The Price (Penguin Plays) by Arthur Miller

"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)

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stephencbird | 3 other reviews | Sep 19, 2023 |

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