Understanding Death Of A Salesman

"This collection of social, cultural, and historical documents and popular materials, with linking explanations and commentary, will help the reader to study the play in context of its time and cultural background. The collected materials are designed to work with the play to highlight inherent conflicts within American society which lie at the heart of 'Death of a Salesman, ' and to explore how the play affects and is affected by social mores and beliefs. Salesmanship and the changing face of business, along with perceptions of sports, gender, and families, are explored through selections drawn from a rich variety of sources that provide forceful evidence of the play's influence. Documents include essays, articles, and fiction, which have created or explored the social expectations of a typical American family in the late 1940s; unusual selections such as a self-analysis chart, an obituary, and a diary, which help to trace the history of salesmanship from the nineteenth century to the present day; and advertisements, song lyrics, speeches, how-to books, and other readings that promote an interdisciplinary study of the play." "The material is organized to offer five views of the play and to analyze its impact on American culture in terms of 'Cultural Myths and values, ' 'Economic Interests and Forces, ' 'American Business Culture, ' 'Family and Gender Expectations, ' and 'Sports and American Life.' Each chapter concludes with a list of 'Study Questions, '; 'Topics for Written or Oral Exploration'; and 'Suggested Readings, ' which are expecially useful for teachers." SLJ.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy of a salesman’s deferred American dream Ever since it was first performed in 1949, Death of a Salesman has been recognized as a milestone of the American theater. In the person of Willy Loman, the aging, failing salesman who makes his living riding on a smile and a shoeshine, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic hero as a man whose dreams are at once insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial. He has given us a figure whose name has become a symbol for a kind of majestic grandiosity—and a play that compresses epic extremes of humor and anguish, promise and loss, between the four walls of an American living room. "By common consent, this is one of the finest dramas in the whole range of the American theater." —Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times "So simple, central, and terrible that the run of playwrights would neither care nor dare to attempt it." —Time

"This collection of social, cultural, and historical documents and popular materials, with linking explanations and commentary, will help the reader to study the play in context of its time and cultural background. The collected materials are designed to work with the play to highlight inherent conflicts within American society which lie at the heart of 'Death of a Salesman, ' and to explore how the play affects and is affected by social mores and beliefs. Salesmanship and the changing face of business, along with perceptions of sports, gender, and families, are explored through selections drawn from a rich variety of sources that provide forceful evidence of the play's influence. Documents include essays, articles, and fiction, which have created or explored the social expectations of a typical American family in the late 1940s; unusual selections such as a self-analysis chart, an obituary, and a diary, which help to trace the history of salesmanship from the nineteenth century to the present day; and advertisements, song lyrics, speeches, how-to books, and other readings that promote an interdisciplinary study of the play." "The material is organized to offer five views of the play and to analyze its impact on American culture in terms of 'Cultural Myths and values, ' 'Economic Interests and Forces, ' 'American Business Culture, ' 'Family and Gender Expectations, ' and 'Sports and American Life.' Each chapter concludes with a list of 'Study Questions, '; 'Topics for Written or Oral Exploration'; and 'Suggested Readings, ' which are expecially useful for teachers." SLJ.

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, the third volume in the Dialogue series, covers six major and controversial topics dealing with Miller's classic play. The topics include feminism and the role of women in the drama, the American Dream, business and capitalism, the significance of technology, the legacy that Willy leaves to Biff, and Miller's use of symbolism. The authors of the essays include prominent Arthur Miller scholars such as Terry Otten and the late Steven Centola as well as young, emerging scholars. Some of the essays, particularly the ones written by the emerging scholars, tend to employ literary theory while the ones by the established scholars tend to illustrate the strengths of traditional criticism by interpreting the text closely. It is fascinating to see how scholars at different stages of their academic careers approach a given topic from distinct perspectives and sometimes diverse methodologies. The essays offer insightful and provocative readings of Death of a Salesman in a collection that will prove quite useful to scholars and students of Miller's most famous play.

Arthur Miller was one of the most important American playwrights and political and cultural figures of the 20th century. Both Death of a Salesman and The Crucible stand out as his major works: the former is always in performance somewhere in the world and the latter is Miller's most produced play. As major modern American dramas, they are the subject of a huge amount of criticism which can be daunting for students approaching the plays for the first time. This Reader's Guide introduces the major critical debates surrounding the plays and discusses their unique production histories, initial theatre reviews and later adaptations. The main trends of critical inquiry and scholars who have purported them are examined, as are the views of Miller himself, a prolific self-critic.

Discusses the writing of Death of a salesman by Arthur Miller. Includes critical essays on the play and a brief biography of the author.

Revised and updated to include Miller's late work and the key productions and criticism since the playwright's death in 2005.