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Death of a Salesman |
Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem |
Author(s): Miller, Arthur |
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List Price: $14.00 |
Format: Paperback |
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group |
Imprint: Penguin Classics |
ISBN: 0141180978 or 9780141180977 |
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Descriptions and Reviews
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| The Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy of a salesman& ... |
 | The Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy of a salesman’s deferred American dream
A Penguin Classic Since it was first performed in 1949, Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the tragic shortcomings of an American dreamer has been recognized as a milestone of the theater. Willy Loman, the protagonist of Death of a Salesman, has spent his life following the American way, living out his belief in salesmanship as a way to reinvent himself. But somehow the riches and respect he covets have eluded him. At age 63, he searches for the moment his life took a wrong turn, the moment of betrayal that undermined his relationship with his wife and destroyed his relationship with Biff, the son in whom he invested his faith. Willy lives in a fragile world of elaborate excuses and daydreams, conflating past and present in a desperate attempt to make sense of himself and of a world that once promised so much. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Christopher W. E. Bigsby.
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. >hr<Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner of the National Book Award Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
"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>hr<Arthur Miller (1915–2005) was born in New York City and studied at the University of Michigan. His plays include All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays (1955), After the Fall (1963), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972) and The American Clock (1980). He also wrote two novels, Focus (1945), and The Misfits, which was filmed in 1960, and the text for In Russia (1969), Chinese Encounters (1979), and In the Country (1977), three books of photographs by his wife, Inge Morath. His later work included a memoir, Timebends (1987); the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1993), Broken Glass (1994), and Mr. Peter's Connections (1999); Echoes Down the Corridor: Collected Essays, 1944–2000; and On Politics and the Art of Acting (2001). He twice won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and in 1949 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Miller was the recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 2001 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters in 2002, and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003.
Christopher Bigsby is a professor of American Studies at the University of East Anglia. He edited the Penguin Classics editions of Miller's The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, and All My Sons.>hr< INTRODUCTION Willy Loman, the central figure in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, occupies a position to which few characters in literature ascend. Willy serves as a point of reference in contexts outside of literature—invoked to describe anyone who is crushed by the immense forces of American capitalism. This habit suggests a certainty about the play's meaning that often forms around a widely acknowledged masterpiece despite its multitude of ambiguities. Death of a Salesman vividly portrays the destructive power of certain American tendencies, such as equating wealth with virtue and possessions with self-worth. But the extent of the play's ambition can quickly obscure the fact that it is also a story about one family and its individual members, culminating in the father's suicide. What brings Willy Loman to this point cannot be reduced to the malignant influence of the society in which he lives, although an economic system determined by abstract principles rather than human needs is in part responsible for Willy's fate. As he says to Howard, his boss, "a man is not a piece of fruit!" (pp. 61-62), but to Howard and the world he represents, the bottom line always comes first. Willy's history with the Wagner Company and Howard's father cannot keep Howard from firing Willy. All Howard can say to Willy is "business is business" (p. 60). Believing that his family will benefit more from his life insurance policy than from his continuing to live, Willy seems to accept the implication underlying Howard's statement—that the value of a person can be quantified according to actual wealth or earning potential. As he says to Charley, "you end up worth more dead than alive" (p. 76). To argue, however, that Willy kills himself primarily because he realizes the true nature of his world neglects the all-consuming power of his illusions, which retain their hold on him to the end. He is seduced by an American dream that is corrupted; he spends his life working to pay for a house, a car, and a refrigerator, without suspecting that it's a game he cannot win. Even though Willy finally seems to understand the absurdity of owning something only when it is no longer of any use to him, he maintains his belief in the worth and worthiness of being well liked, as if the game were about something more than numbers. But what makes Death of a Salesman more than an indictment of a system and gives Willy a truly tragic dimension is the intimation that Willy suffers not just from the inhumanity of free enterprise, but also from his inability to reconcile the hopes he had for his life with the one he has actually lived. As Miller excavates the various layers of Willy's life, we become aware of the hollowness of his dreams and the extent to which his illusions protect him from being overwhelmed by guilt and regret. He constantly laments his decision not to go with his brother, Ben, to Alaska, where he believes he would have had the kind of life he longs for throughout the play—away from the confinement of the city, having a more direct relationship with the natural world, and |
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More Descriptions and Reviews...
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Alternative Editions
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Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
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More Alternatives...
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Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
DEATH OF A SALESMAN; by Miller, Arthur H.; HarperCollins, Caedmon |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Death of a Salesman; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Death of a Salesman counter display; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
'Death of a Salesman' in Beijing; by Miller, Arthur; Bloomsbury Academic, Methuen Drama |
'Death of a Salesman' in Beijing; by Miller, Arthur; Bloomsbury Academic, Methuen Drama |
Death of a Salesman (SparkNotes Literature Guide); by Miller, Arthur; Sterling, SparkNotes |
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Other Books by this Author
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137; by Miller, Arthur I.; W. W. Norton & Company, W. W. Norton & Company |
After the Fall; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
After the Fall; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
After the Fall; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
All My Sons; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
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More Books by this Author...
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All My Sons; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
All My Sons; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
All My Sons; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The American Clock; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
An Enemy of the People; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
An Enemy of the People; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
An Enemy of the People; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
An Enemy of the People; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
The Archbishop's Ceiling; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The Arthur Miller Audio Collection; by Miller, Arthur; HarperCollins, Caedmon |
Arthur Miller: Collected Plays Vol. 1 1944-1961 (LOA #163); by Miller, Arthur; Library of America, Library of America |
Arthur Miller: Collected Plays Vol. 2 1964-1982 (LOA #223); by Miller, Arthur; Library of America, Library of America |
Arthur Miller: Collected Plays Vol. 3 1987-2004 (LOA #261); by Miller, Arthur; Library of America, Library of America |
The Artist in the Machine; by Miller, Arthur I.; MIT Press, The MIT Press |
The Artist in the Machine; by Miller, Arthur I.; MIT Press, The MIT Press |
The Assault on Privacy; by Miller, Arthur; Signet, Signet |
The Assault on Privacy; by Miller, Arthur; Signet, Signet |
Broken Glass; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Broken Glass; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
Broken Glass; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Collected Essays; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
Collected Essays; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
The Collected Plays of Arthur Miller; by Miller, Arthur; Library of America, Library of America |
Colliding Worlds; by Miller, Arthur I.; W. W. Norton & Company, W. W. Norton & Company |
The Creation of the World and Other Business; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Classics, Penguin Classics |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Books, Penguin Books |
CRUCIBLE; by Miller, Arthur H.; HarperCollins, Caedmon |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Classics |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The Crucible; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
The Crucible (SparkNotes Literature Guide); by Miller, Arthur; Sterling, SparkNotes |
Danger: Memory!; by Miller, Arthur; Grove/Atlantic, Inc., Grove Press |
'Death of a Salesman' in Beijing; by Miller, Arthur; Bloomsbury Academic, Methuen Drama |
'Death of a Salesman' in Beijing; by Miller, Arthur; Bloomsbury Academic, Methuen Drama |
Deciphering the Cosmic Number; by Miller, Arthur I.; W. W. Norton & Company, W. W. Norton & Company |
Echoes Down the Corridor; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Echoes Down the Corridor; by Miller, Arthur; Viking Adult, Viking Adult |
Einstein, Picasso; by Miller, Arthur I; Basic Books, Basic Books |
Einstein, Picasso; by Miller, Arthur I; Basic Books, Basic Books |
Einstein, Picasso; by Miller, Arthur I; Basic Books, Basic Books |
Einstein, Picasso; by Miller, Arthur I; Basic Books, Basic Books |
Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, And The Beauty That Causes Havoc; by Miller, Arthur I.; Basic Books, Basic Books |
Empire of the Stars; by Miller, Arthur I.; HMH Books, Mariner Books |
Empire of the Stars; by Miller, Arthur I.; Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown Book Group |
Everybody Wins; by Miller, Arthur; Grove/Atlantic, Inc., Grove Press |
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I Don't Need You Anymore; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Viking |
Incident at Vichy; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Incident at Vichy; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
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Miller's Court; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Plume |
The Misfits; by Miller, Arthur; Phaidon Press, Phaidon Press |
Mr. Peters' Connections; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
Mr. Peters' Connections; by Miller, Arthur; Penguin Publishing Group, Penguin Books |
On Politics and the Art of Acting; by Miller, Arthur; Viking Adult, Viking Adult |
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Presidential Campaigns And American Self Images; by Miller, Arthur H; Avalon Publishing, Westview Press |
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