Arthur Miller (1915-2005)

A selective list of online literary criticism and analysis for the twentieth-century American playwright Arthur Miller, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer-reviewed sources

introduction & biography

"Arthur Miller." "More than any other playwright working today, Arthur Miller has dedicated himself to the investigation of the moral plight of the white American working class," says this biography of Arthur Miller from Public Broadcasting's American Masters series. Contents of the web site include a section on McCarthyism and lesson plans for high school teachers.

"Back to Reality." A review of Arthur Miller: A Life by Martin Gottfried; discusses Miller's techniques and achievement. London Review of Books 26, 6 (18 March 2004).

"Arthur Miller Biography." From the National Endowment for the Humanities.

"Birth of a Salesman." The Great Depression as a formative influence on Miller's writing. The New Yorker 25 Dec. 1995.

"Arthur Miller, The Art of Theater No. 2." Olga Carlisle and Rose Styron interview Arthur Miller. Paris Review 38 (Summer 1966).

Otten, Terry. "The Legacy of Arthur Miller." The Arthur Miller Journal 7, 1/2 (Fall 2012), pp. 131-142 [free at jstor].

"Arthur Miller: A Descriptive Chronology of his Plays, Theatrical Career, and Dramatic Theories." By Prof. Charles A. Carpenter, academic web site.

The Literature and Culture of the American 1950's. A "dictionary" for key topics and people of the 1950s. From Prof. Al Filreis, academic web site.

"Arthurian legends." An overview of Miller's career, with links to additional news articles about the playwright, from The Guardian 26 July 2003.

Obituaries of Arthur Miller (1915-2005) from The Boston Globe; from the BBC; from The Guardian.

Death of a Salesman (1949) literary criticism

Field, B.S., Jr. "Hamartia in Death of a Salesman." Twentieth Century Literature 18, 1 (Jan. 1972) pp 19-24 [free at jstor].

Martin, Robert A., ed. "The Nature of Tragedy in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman." South Atlantic Review 61, 4 (Fall 1996) pp 97-106 [free at jstor].

Oberg, Arthur K. "Death of a Salesman and Arthur Miller's Search for Style." Criticism 9, 4 (Fall 1967) pp 303-11 [free at jstor].

The Crucible (1953) literary criticism

Bergeron, David M. "Arthur Miller's The Crucible and Nathaniel Hawthorne: Some Parallels." Compares The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter. In The English Journal 58, 1 (Jan. 1969) pp 47-55 [free at jstor].

Bloom, Harold, ed. Arthur Miller's The Crucible (Chelsea House 1999) [questia subscription service, complete book available].

Burns, Margo. "Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction." A history professor comments on the factual accuracy of Miller's portrayal of 17th-century Colonial New England.

Fender, Stephen. "Precision and Pseudo Precision in The Crucible." Journal of American Studies 1, 1 (April 1967) pp 87-98 [free at jstor].

McGill, William J., Jr. "The Crucible of History: Arthur Miller's John Proctor." McGill considers some weakness and strengths in Miller's The Crucible in an article in the ever-excellent The New England Quarterly 54, 2 (June 1981) pp 258-64 [free at jstor].

Popkin, Henry. "Arthur Miller's The Crucible." The Crucible as a commentary on McCarthyism. College English 26, 2 (Nov. 1964) pp 139-46 [free at jstor].

Prigozy, Ruth. "The Liberal Novelist in the McCarthy Era." Twentieth Century Literature 21, 3 (Oct. 1975) pp 253-64 [free at jstor].

other works

Abbotson, Susan C.W. Student Companion to Arthur Miller (Greenwood P 2000). Chapters include a Biography of Miller; "Tragedy: Death of a Salesman (1949)"; "The Family: All My Sons (1947) and A View From the Bridge (1956)"; "The Depression: The American Clock (1980)"; "The Holocaust: After the Fall (1964) and The Broken Glass (1994)"; and "House Un-American Activities Committee: The Crucible (1953) [questia sub ser, complete book available].

Bigsby, C.W.E. "What Price Arthur Miller? An Analysis of The Price." Twentieth Century Literature 16, 1 (Jan. 1970) pp 16-25 [free at jstor].

Bloom, Harold, ed. Arthur Miller (Chelsea House 1987). [questia sub ser, complete book available].

Buhle, Paul. "Arthur Miller, American Rebel." Reviews in American History 39, 1 (March 2011) pp 185-89 [substantial preview, muse].

Centola, Steven R. "Arthur Miller and the Art of the Possible." American Drama 14, 1 (Winter 2005) [questia sub ser].

Collins, Anthony R. "Arthur Miller and the Judgment of God." The South Central Bulletin 42, 4 (Winter 1982) pp 120-24 [free at jstor].

Crandel, George W. "'Ditchy' Discovered: Arthur Miller's First Published Short Story." Autobiographical elements in this story. Studies in Short Fiction Fall, 1997 [subscription service].

Isaac, Dan. "Founding Father: O'Neill's Correspondence with Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams." On letters exchanged between the playwrights. The Eugene O'Neill Review 17, 1/2 (Spring/Fall 1993) pp 124-33 [free at jstor].

Murphy, Brenda. "Arendt, Kristeva, and Arthur Miller: Forgiveness and Promise in After the Fall." PMLA 117, 2 (March 2002) pp 314-16 [free at jstor].

Scanlan, Robert. "A Wake in the Fourth Row: Denial and 'Social Consciousness.'" On the fashionable dismissal of Miller as a "has-been." Harvard Review 2 (Fall 1993) pp 36-39 [free at jstor].

Taroff, Kurt. "All My Sons: A Play By Arthur Miller and Henrik Ibsen." The Arthur Miller Journal 8, 1 (Spring 2013), pp. 1-13 [free at jstor].

Editor. "Why Arthur Miller Is Important." The Arthur Miller Journal 10, No. 2 (Autumn 2015), pp. 77-109 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Rajakrishnan, V.; and Arthur Miller. "After Commitment: An Interview with Arthur Miller." Theatre Journal 32, 2 (May, 1980), pp. 196-204 [free at jstor].

Greenfield, Thomas A; and Erin M. Carlo. "Strange Stage Fellows? Arthur Miller and Harold Pinter." The Arthur Miller Journal 12, 2 (Autumn 2017), pp. 150-158 [preview or purchase at jstor].

Horan, Thomas. "Another View From the Bridge: Arthur Miller's Gay Tragedy." The Arthur Miller Journal 3, 1 (Spring 2008), pp. 17-28 [free at jstor].

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