Modern American Drama & Arthur Miller

1. Modern American Drama & Arthur Miller

2. After Provincetown: 1918-1950 • Post-WWI prosperity leads to a boom in theater attendance and construction. • Realism remains an important element of American theater; tragedy and social drama are popular throughout the period • However, two new genres/styles have a significant impact on American theater: musicals (perhaps partly driven by the advent of cinema) and expressionism • Composers such as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Rogers & Hammerstein usher in a golden age of musical theater • Theaters attendance suffers during the Great Depression, though the Federal Theater Project keeps many playwrights employed until 1939 • After WWII, two major new playwrights come to prominence: Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller

3. Expressionism • Expressionism: an artistic style in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world. • Expressionism arises in Germany—primarily among painters and sculptors—at the turn of the century, but becomes influential across the Continent and other artistic genres. • Expressionist drama: * seeks to depict the emotional suffering and/or spiritual awakening of the protagonist. * does not try to depict ordinary reality or adhere to the traditional unities; the material (and plot) is subjective and often surreal * sets are simplified and distorted • During the 1920s, several American playwrights (such as Eugene O’Neill) experiment with Expressionism. Edvard Munch, “The Scream” (1895) Eugene O’Neill,The Hairy Ape (1922)

4. Arthur Miller (1915-2005) • Born in NYC to a wealthy Jewish family, but suffers financial problems during the Great Depression • Works a series of jobs to put himself through University of Michigan • Works briefly for the Federal Theater Project before it is disbanded in 1939 • Struggles for many years to produced a commercially successful play, and finally succeeds with All My Sons in 1946 • Experiences career problems during the 1940s and 50s because of his ties to the Communist Party; The Crucible (1953) is largely the effect of his experiences with the HUAC • Leaves his wife in 1956 to wed Marilyn Monroe; they divorce in 1961; his play After the Fall indirectly depicts the turmoil of their relationship • Dies of heart failure, age 89

5. Death of a Salesman • Miller writes Death of a Salesman in about six weeks in 1948; the play premieres on Broadway in February 1949 • Miller’s own salesman uncle—Manny Newman—is a model for Willy Loman; Newman had prized financial success and encouraged his son and nephew to compete with one another • Miller also found literary inspiration in his relationships with ordinary, middle- and lower-class workers • The play is immensely successful; Miller receives both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize • Death of a Salesman has been staged numerous times, in addition to film and TV adaptations Images from the 2012 Broadway revival, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield

6. Study Questions 1) Death of a Salesman is deeply concerned with the nature of masculinity. How do the different main characters seem to envision manhood, or masculine success? How do these conceptions variously affect their points of view and actions? How do you think Miller might view these ideas/efforts? 2) In what way(s) do words and memories (rather than actions) seem crucial to Willy’s sense of self—or his agency? In what ways might Miller’s depiction of speech—especially Willy’s affinity for story-making and mythology—relate to Wilde’s depiction of text in The Importance of Being Earnest? 3) Willy Loman is obsessed with securing the archetypal American Dream for his family. What is his vision of this dream? How does that vision seem to affect his relationships with different members of his family—during the “present” action, the memory sequences, and the Requiem? 4) What vision of tragedy seems most relevant to Miller’s Death of a Salesman? Miller has stated that ancient Greek tragedy significantly influenced his work. In what way(s) does the play either adhere to or depart from tragic conventions? Do any modern definitions of tragedy offer useful ways to view or interpret this play?

7. "I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing—his sense of personal dignity. From Orestes to Hamlet, Medea to Macbeth, the underlying struggle is that of the individual attempting to gain his 'rightful' position in his society.“ —Arthur Miller, 1949