| | Born in Harlem to Jewish working-class parents, Miller would be deeply affected by the ruin of his father's business during the Great Depression. He went to the University of Michigan in 1934 to study journalism, where he first began writing plays.<ref name="kirj">http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref> Miller returned to New York after graduating, and in 1940, he married Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart. His first play to be produced on Broadway, ''The Man Who Had All the Luck'' (1944), was a failure, closing after only four shows.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/arthur_miller_timeline.html</ref> His next play, ''All my Sons'' (1947), did considerably better, earning him a [[Tony Award]]. | | Born in Harlem to Jewish working-class parents, Miller would be deeply affected by the ruin of his father's business during the Great Depression. He went to the University of Michigan in 1934 to study journalism, where he first began writing plays.<ref name="kirj">http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/amiller.htm</ref> Miller returned to New York after graduating, and in 1940, he married Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart. His first play to be produced on Broadway, ''The Man Who Had All the Luck'' (1944), was a failure, closing after only four shows.<ref>http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/arthur_miller_timeline.html</ref> His next play, ''All my Sons'' (1947), did considerably better, earning him a [[Tony Award]]. |
| − | It would be ''[[Death of a Salesman]]'', however, that established Miller as a major artist in the world of theater. Produced in 1949, the play tells the story of Willy Loman, an aging salesman whose desperate clinging to his vision of "The American Dream" blinds him to reality and eventually tears his family apart. The play would earn Miller a [[Pulitzer Prize]], and its first run earned six Tony Awards.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc10.htm</ref> | + | It would be ''[[Death of a Salesman]]'', however, that established Miller as a major artist in the world of theater. Produced in 1949, the play tells the story of Willy Loman, an aging salesman whose desperate clinging to his vision of "The [[American Dream]]" blinds him to reality and eventually tears his family apart. The play would earn Miller a [[Pulitzer Prize]], and its first run earned six Tony Awards.<ref>http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc10.htm</ref> |
| | His next major work was ''[[The Crucible]]'', produced in 1953. Mired in controversy in its day, it is a fictionalized account of the [[Salem Witch trials]] of the late 17th century, which deliberately attempted to allegorize the diligent anti-communism of the [[McCarthy]] era. He would later be called before the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities]], but refused to give any names of those suspected of supposedly [[anti-American]] or [[Communist]] activities.<ref name="kirj" /> | | His next major work was ''[[The Crucible]]'', produced in 1953. Mired in controversy in its day, it is a fictionalized account of the [[Salem Witch trials]] of the late 17th century, which deliberately attempted to allegorize the diligent anti-communism of the [[McCarthy]] era. He would later be called before the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities]], but refused to give any names of those suspected of supposedly [[anti-American]] or [[Communist]] activities.<ref name="kirj" /> |