Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller’s extraordinary masterpiece, Death of a Salesman changed the course of modern theatre, and has lost none of its power as an examination of American life and consumerism, published in Penguin Modern Classics. ‘A man is not an orange. You can’t eat the fruit and throw the peel away’ Willy Loman is on his last legs. Failing at his job, dismayed at his the failure of his sons, Biff and Happy, to live up to his expectations, and tortured by his jealousy at the success and happiness of his neighbour Charley and his son Bernard, Willy spirals into a well of regret, reminiscence, and A scathing indictment of the ultimate failure of the American dream, and the empty pursuit of wealth and success, is a harrowing journey. In creating Willy Loman, his destructively insecure anti-hero, Miller defined his aim as being ‘to set forth what happens when a man does not have a grip on the forces of life’. Arthur Miller (1915-2005), American dramatist, was born in New York City. In 1938 Miller won awards for his comedy The Grass Still Grows. His major achievement was Death of a Salesman, which won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for drama and the 1949 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. The Crucible was aimed at the widespread congressional investigation of subversive activities in the US; the drama won the 1953 Tony Award. Miller’s autobiography, Timebends: A Life was published in 1987. If you enjoyed Death of a Salesman, you might like Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.