Author/Context
Arthur Miller is considered one of America's leading playwrights. Having written nine plays, a screenplay, numerous short stories and essays, a novel, poems, and articles on world affairs and the theater, his renown extends far and wide.
Miller, one of three children, was born on October 17, 1915 on 112th Street in Manhattan. He has an elder brother in business and a sister who is an actress. His family was middle class and Jewish. He went to grammar school in Harlem and high school in Brooklyn. Miller never did well in school, and when it came time for college, money was scarce. He did not do well enough in school to receive scholarships to pay for college, and at that time, his parents were not in a financial position where they could afford to send Miller. To compensate for this, he got a job as a "loader" and shipping clerk and managed to pay his own way at the University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1938.
His first play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, released in 1944, achieved great success and launched his career as a playwright. Many important producers recognized his talent immediately, and Miller went on to write many successful plays after this initial recognition.
Aside from being a talented writer, Miller also was involved as a public figure. In 1956, he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He refused to name people who attended a meeting to which he was also invited. He and these others people were thought to have been members of the Communist Party. Because he refused to give the names of the people at the meeting, Miller was convicted of contempt of Congress in 1957. However, this was reversed by the Supreme Court in 1958. This political witchhunt, known as McCarthyism after John McCarthy, inspired Miller to write The Crucible. In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy of West Virginia, began accusing people in the government of being or supporting Communists. Fear broke out in the American public, much like the fear that erupted in Salem once people were accused of witchcraft. Miller wrote the play from the standpoint that people must not only be careful about how they react to situations, but that they also cannot avoid involvement in issues, for that would mean to deny one's own personal responsibility in the human race.
Miller married three times. His first wife was Mary Slattery, with whom he had two children. The marriage ended in divorce in 1956. His second wife was Marilyn Monroe. They divorced in 1960. Miller's third and current wife is Inge Morath. They have one daughter and live in Connecticut.
Some of Miller's famous works include: Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, A Memory of Two Mondays, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, The Price, The Creation of the World and Other Business, The American Clock, Focus, and The Misfits.
Bibliography
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: the Penguin Group, 1995.
Miller, Arthur. The Portable Arthur Miller. Ed. Christopher Bigsby. New York: The Penguin Group, 1995.
Miller, Arthur. Timebends: A Life. New York: Grove Press, 1987.
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