U.S. & Canadian Drama - Literary Criticism, Literary Criticism - U.S. Fiction & Prose Literature - General & Miscellaneous, National Characteristics - North America

Miller And Middle America

Name: Miller And Middle America
Author: Paula Langteau
ISBN: 9780761837107

by Paula Langteau

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Overview

Miller and Middle America features eleven essays by some of the world's leading Arthur Miller scholars on the playwright's contribution to the literary life of the United States. The essays explore Miller's role as a playwright in relation to American society, both celebrating the land and its heritage, while cautioning the country and its people. The collection provides an examination of Miller's depiction of various roles and professions, such as doctors and carpenters, as well as institutions, such as marriage. Other topics addressed include the language of Middle America, the changing landscape of the country, and even Middle-American political correctness. Finally, the volume offers an examination of Miller's use of memory and reality in his plays to explore and assign meaning to self and society.

Synopsis

Review Uniformly accessible, informative, and well written, these 11 essays, virtually all of them by accomplished Miller scholars, explore the thematic filaments that tie Miller's plays to the moderately conservative values associated with Middle America. The book is marked by a commendable, refreshing breadth: it succeeds in offering enduring insights (to specialists and non-specialists alike) on Miller's unsurpassable power to lay bare the roots of the cultural landscape. Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.>> (H.I. Einsohn Choice)Miller and Middle America.... is a welcome and valuable addition to students and scholars interested in Miller, American drama, and, indeed, American culture itself. (Roudané, Matthew)This book collects eleven essays by scholars of Arthur Miller, almost all of whom write from long and deep acquaintance with the plays and the playwright. The essays are a major contribution to our understanding of Arthur Miller, and of twentieth-century Middle America as well. They apply a wide range of critical perspectives, theories, and methodologies to the whole body of Miller's work, shedding particular light on the cultural context of the plays as revealed in Miller's treatment of such subjects as McCarthyist scapegoating, doctors, marriage, and murder, and they bring fresh insights into Miller's perennial thematic concerns, such as memory, urbanite longing for the frontier, and the nature of reality. (Murphy, Brenda)America lay at the heart of Arthur Miller's drama. He explored its past, challenged its values, held it to account. These original and striking essays come from the heart of America and are a reminder of what we lost when Miller died, and what remains to us in plays which never cease to move and disturb, and which reward the kind of critical engagement evidenced in this compelling book. (Bigsby, Christopher)Uniformly accessible, informative, and well written, these 11 essays, virtually all of them by accomplished Miller scholars, explore the thematic filaments that tie Miller's plays to the moderately conservative values associated with Middle America. The book is marked by a commendable, refreshing breadth: it succeeds in offering enduring insights (to specialists and non-specialists alike) on Miller's unsurpassable power to lay bare the roots of the cultural landscape. Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. (H.I. Einsohn Choice) Product Description Miller and Middle America features eleven essays by some of the world's leading Arthur Miller scholars on the playwright's contribution to the literary life of the United States. The essays explore Miller's role as a playwright in relation to American society, both celebrating the land and its heritage, while cautioning the country and its people. The collection provides an examination of Miller's depiction of various roles and professions, such as doctors and carpenters, as well as institutions, such as marriage. Other topics addressed include the language of Middle America, the changing landscape of the country, and even Middle-American political correctness. Finally, the volume offers an examination of Miller's use of memory and reality in his plays to explore and assign meaning to self and society. About the Author Paula T. Langteau is the campus Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Marinette. She was the founding Vice President of The Arthur Miller Society, its second president, and currently an executive board member.

About the Author, Paula Langteau

Paula T. Langteau is the campus Dean of the University of Wisconsin-Marinette. She was the founding Vice President of The Arthur Miller Society, its second president, and currently an executive board member.

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Editorials

Choice

Uniformly accessible, informative, and well written, these 11 essays, virtually all of them by accomplished Miller scholars, explore the thematic filaments that tie Miller's plays to the moderately conservative values associated with Middle America. The book is marked by a commendable, refreshing breadth: it succeeds in offering enduring insights (to specialists and non-specialists alike) on Miller's unsurpassable power to lay bare the roots of the cultural landscape. Summing Up: RECOMMENDED. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.
— H.I. Einsohn, Middlesex Community College

Matthew Roudané

Miller and Middle America.... is a welcome and valuable addition to students and scholars interested in Miller, American drama, and, indeed, American culture itself.

Brenda Murphy

This book collects eleven essays by scholars of Arthur Miller, almost all of whom write from long and deep acquaintance with the plays and the playwright. The essays are a major contribution to our understanding of Arthur Miller, and of twentieth-century Middle America as well. They apply a wide range of critical perspectives, theories, and methodologies to the whole body of Miller's work, shedding particular light on the cultural context of the plays as revealed in Miller's treatment of such subjects as McCarthyist scapegoating, doctors, marriage, and murder, and they bring fresh insights into Miller's perennial thematic concerns, such as memory, urbanite longing for the frontier, and the nature of reality.

Christopher Bigsby

America lay at the heart of Arthur Miller's drama. He explored its past, challenged its values, held it to account. These original and striking essays come from the heart of America and are a reminder of what we lost when Miller died, and what remains to us in plays which never cease to move and disturb, and which reward the kind of critical engagement evidenced in this compelling book.