Arthur Miller : His Life and Work

Bookviews.com

A definitive biography of this American treasure.
—9/1/03

Boston Sunday Globe

[Gottfried's] abilities as a journalist and drama critic serve him well. [He] lands on a single, salient theme and commits himself to exploring that fully.
—8/31/03

Chicago Sun-Times

[Gottfried's] careful analysis of the plays, woven into the fabric of the writer's very public private life, is detailed and at times revelatory.
— August 21. 2003

Hartford Courant

Gottfried's examination of the playwright's life reads like a well-made three-act play by, well, Arthur Miller, filled with conflicted characters, moral dilemmas and cool passion.
—9/14/03

Hollywood Reporter

Richly detailed...Gottfried writes with respect and reserve.

New York Observer

A fascinating book...To borrow the famous line from Death of a Salesman, attention must be paid.

New York Post

[An] excellent biography.
— July, 25, 2003

New York Times Book Review

At its best when Gottfried deals with the plays and with the dramas behind the scenes...Gottfried is illuminating on the background to Miller's next play.

Philadelphia Inquirer

[A] big, bountiful life of the playwright by a longtime New York drama critic.
—9/14/03

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gottfried's new biography reveals Arthur Miller--warts and all...a fascinating study.

San Francisco Chronicle

Ambitious, opinionated, exciting...Gottfried wields his critical acumen well through full, often excellent discussions of the plays.

The New York Times

Arthur Miller is at its best when Gottfried deals with the plays and with the dramas behind the scenes. — James Campbell

The New Yorker

At the mid-century moment when psychological realism, moral seriousness, and progressive politics formed our dominant literary aesthetic, the Broadway success of “All My Sons” catapulted Miller to fame, not just as a playwright but as an exemplar: the intellectual as superstar, mighty enough to engage the country’s conscience, sexy enough to make Marilyn Monroe his bride. Gottfried traces Miller’s development from his family’s devastation in the 1929 stock-market crash through his leftist indoctrination at the University of Michigan and his literary ascendancy and shows a man emotionally remote and professionally sanctimonious, who complained, for instance, that audiences were supposed to “think, not weep” at “Death of a Salesman.” While Miller’s own interest in psychology doubtless encourages such biographical scrutiny, the dutiful Ping-Ponging between life and writings unfortunately amplifies the sense of the playwright’s self-involvement and mutes the sense of his achievement.

Toronto Globe and Mail

The Miller-Monroe connection is of central interest, and Gottfried provides suspense, as well as romance.

Trenton Times

An eminently readable, exhaustive study of a giant of American letters.

WBUR Boston

To his credit, Gottfried does not indulge in hero worship...his analysis of the plays is solid...[his] study is informative.
—8/29/03

Publishers Weekly

Former New York Post drama critic Gottfried (Sondheim) shares an illuminating and profound picture of playwright Miller. Outraged at the shameful critical disrespect heaped in recent years on the author of Death of a Salesman and All My Sons, Gottfried carefully analyzes all Miller's plays to rebut the adverse comments. An indifferent student, son of a father barely literate yet successful as a women's clothing manufacturer, Miller (b. 1915) blossomed in college and produced promising works: Final Curtain, Honors at Dawn and They Too Arise. The Jewish Miller married Catholic Mary Grace Slattery, the daughter of anti-Semitic parents, and persevered despite the failure of his first production, The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944). After this rejection, Miller consciously aimed to create a commercial hit, accomplished with All My Sons. Gottfried leads readers through the playwright's meticulous work regimen-his attention to potential titles, dialogue and scene descriptions, pointing out that it took five years, six drafts and 700 pages before Miller was satisfied with his first hit. Material about Marilyn Monroe is incorporated seamlessly throughout the text, and Gottfried refuses to unbalance his overall literary study with sensationalism. He compellingly presents the Miller/Elia Kazan artistic collaborations and doesn't avoid unflattering details (e.g., his subject's tendency toward pomposity and his tight-fisted financial attitude) but also expresses admiration for Miller's willingness to offer informer Lee J. Cobb a starring role in A View from the Bridge. (Miller discussed his plays with Gottfried, but not his life.) Only Inge Morath, Miller's third wife, remains shadowy. Fortunately, personal stories are refreshingly secondary in one of the rare books that makes the playwriting process comprehensible and consistently involving. Agent, Elaine Markson. (Sept. 15) Forecast: Miller will turn 88 in October, which could help initial sales, but the book's strength lies in its endurance. Gottfried's strong track record combined with the book's depth should make this a classic. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Arthur Miller's All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and View from the Bridge rank as masterpieces of the 20th-century American stage. Veteran drama critic Gottfried (Jed Harris: The Curse of Genius) tells the story of this famed playwright, whom he believes has been more appreciated overseas than in his own country. Skillfully drawing on Miller's correspondence and notebooks, as well as interviews with friends and colleagues, he illuminates the family dynamics of Miller's childhood-and the marked change from privilege to poverty when the Depression struck-and other relationships and experiences. This information, in turn, sheds light on some of the dramatic characters and themes in Miller's work. Details about his three marriages (particularly to Marilyn Monroe), children, friendships, and working relationships with luminaries such as Elia Kazan, and more are presented honestly, intelligently, and without sensationalism. Miller decided not to participate in Gottfried's project, but he did help the author secure access to important documents in research libraries. Gottfried's access to original research makes his book especially in-depth, and with the few biographies of Miller either out of print or emphasizing criticism, this is an important purchase for large theater collections.-Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Veteran show-biz biographer Gottfried (George Burns, 1996, etc.) strikes just the right balance between the work and the life in his judicious assessment of the great American playwright. Now 87, Arthur Miller doesn’t come across as the warmest of men, and he agreed to be interviewed only about his plays, not his personal life. But he granted permission to read and to quote from unpublished material and correspondence, of which Gottfried has made good use; in particular, letters to Elia Kazan, Miller’s closest friend and best director of his work until Kazan’s HUAC testimony estranged them, reveal the funnier, earthier side of a man whose public pronouncements were usually solemn. From his first commercial success with All My Sons in 1947 and the transcendent triumph of Death of a Salesman in 1949, Miller was viewed as the artistic and political conscience of the American theater. He courageously refused to name names and produced a searing parable about witch-hunting, The Crucible, at the height of McCarthyism in 1953. But his draining marriage to the troubled Marilyn Monroe (well described with sympathy for both) didn’t leave much time for writing; nine years elapsed between the premieres of A View from the Bridge and After the Fall, the latter drawing savage reviews in 1964 for its candid portrait of the recently deceased Monroe. Miller was beginning to be patronized by critics as a stodgy social realist, a misunderstanding Gottfried refutes in his exegeses of the later plays, such as The Archbishop’s Ceiling, disdained in New York but received with respect in London. The English championing of Miller in the 1980s and ’90s eventually had an impact: by the beginning of the 21st century,writes Gottfried, "Miller’s place in theater history, already secure elsewhere, was finally established in his own country." Despite occasionally caustic comments about his subject’s personality, the author’s overall esteem for Miller’s talent and integrity is evident throughout. A thorough and welcome summing-up of a towering achievement in the modern theater. Agent: Elaine Markson/Elaine Markson Agency