Arthur Miller (1) (1915–2005)
Author of The Crucible: Text and Criticism
For other authors named Arthur Miller, see the disambiguation page.
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
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
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
All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall (1995) 23 copies
Miller Plays 2: The Misfits / After the Fall / Incident at Vichy / The Price / The Creation of the World and Other… (1988) 20 copies
Teatro 11 copies
Miller Plays 4: Golden Years / The Man Who Had All the Luck / I Can't Remember Anything / Clara (1994) 7 copies
Miller Plays 6: Broken Glass; Mr Peter's Connections; Resurrection Blues; Finishing the Picture (World Classics):… (2009) 7 copies
Na de zondeval ; Incident in Vichy 4 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 crucible: Play and study notes 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
Dramak 1 copy
The Crucible - Spoken Arts 1 copy
Situation Normal 1 copy
Five Plays by Arthur Miller 1 copy
TDR #177 1 copy
The Death of a Salesman 1 copy
Miller Arthur 1 copy
SCRIPT: The Crucible 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
Penguin Plays, The Crucible 1 copy
Associated Works
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 904 copies
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most (1999) — Contributor — 447 copies
Writers on Writing, 2: More Collected Essays from the New York Times (2003) — Contributor — 183 copies
Playwrights on Playwriting: The Meaning and Making of Modern Drama from Ibsen to Ionesco (1960) — Contributor — 107 copies
Who’s Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 73 copies
Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2003) — Contributor — 68 copies
Genesis as It Is Written: Contemporary Writers on Our First Stories (1996) — Contributor — 59 copies
Three Plays About Business in America: The Adding Machine, Beggar on Horseback, All My Sons (1964) — Contributor — 36 copies
Lapham's Quarterly - Lines of Work: Volume IV, Number 2, Spring 2011 (2011) — Contributor — 29 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
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
Lists
Carole's List (1)
Sonlight Books (1)
Legal Stories (1)
1940s (1)
Witchy Fiction (1)
Witch Hunts (1)
Five star books (1)
Books I've Read (1)
Favourite Books (2)
AP Lit (2)
Nifty Fifties (2)
Plays I Like (3)
Jewish Books (3)
Books I've read (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
1950s (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 156
- Also by
- 55
- Members
- 36,690
- Popularity
- #499
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 390
- ISBNs
- 793
- Languages
- 24
- Favorited
- 47