美国文学 阿瑟.米勒( arthur miller)

1、Arthur Miller(1915-2005)vArthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 February 10, 2005)12 was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible.vNotable award(s)vPulitzer Prize fo

2、r Drama (1949),Kennedy Center Honors (1984)v米勒的名字也为许多中国人所熟悉。他的推销员之死和萨勒姆的女巫等多部剧作曾与中国读者和观众见面。v1978年阿瑟-米勒和夫人来到中国参观访问，接待他的是曹禺先生。v推销员之死1983年在北京人艺上演，由米勒亲自导演。该剧是文革后第一个在中国上演的外国戏剧。 Beijing in Millers 1979 WritingvAs we drive away down the quiet Peking back streets, mazelike and narrow, the thought returns th

3、at hardly more than ten percent of Chinese live in cities, and that. Quoted from Chinese Encounters Included in Echoes Down the Corridor (179) Arthur Asher Miller, the son of a womens clothing company owner, was born in 1915 in New York City. His father lost his business in the Depression and the fa

4、mily was forced to move to a smaller home in Brooklyn. After graduating from high school, Miller worked jobs ranging from radio singer to truck driver to clerk in an automobile-parts warehouse. Miller began writing plays as a student at the University of Michigan, joining the Federal Theater Project

5、 in New York City after he received his degree.Influence of The Great Depression on MillervAlthough none of Millers theater work is specifically autobiographical, it has been strongly influenced by his particular life experiences. An early influential event was the Great Depression of the 1930svMill

6、er told the New York Times: “It the Depression made you want to search for ultimate values, for things that would not fall apart under pressure. Profoundly influenced by the Depression and the war that immediately followed it, Miller tapped into a sense of dissatisfaction and unrest within the great

7、er American psyche. vHis probing dramas proved to be both the conscience and redemption of the times, allowing people an honest view of the direction the country had taken. vA typical theme of Arthur Millers plays concerns the dilemma of modern man in relation to his family and work. (常耀信，美国文学简史299）

8、vWhen Arthur Miller began reading plays in college, Greek tragedies made a profound impression on him. He says that he was drawn to the Greeks “for their magnificent form, the symmetry.” What occurs often in a miller play is that the hero finds himself under a pressure form his society and its ethic

9、s, tries in vain to extricate himself from the physical and spiritual quandary into which he has fallen and finds release only in death, often in the form of actual or virtual suicide. However, miller is not completely pessimistic. There is always a faith in the character and his life, though very o

10、ften gloom overweighs hopeOther themes of his playvMillers realistic dramas explore the complex psychological and social issues that plague humankind in the wake of World War II: vthe dangers of rampant materialism, vthe sins committed in the name of free enterprise,vthe struggle for dignity in a de

11、humanizing world,vthe erosion of the family structure, e.g. sibling rivalry vand the perils besetting human rights. vand moral responsibility to family and community vWhat are Arthur Millers main works?vAll My Sons 全是我儿子全是我儿子 1947 Death of a Salesman 推销员之死推销员之死1949vThe Crucible 炼狱炼狱1953vthe Salem wi

12、tch trials; Relates to “the Red Scare”; McCarthyism麦卡锡主义；麦卡锡主义；Opened at the Martin Beck (1/12) for 197vAfter the Fall 坠落之后坠落之后1964vA View From the Bridge 桥头眺望桥头眺望1955 one-act version paired with another one actor, A Memory of Two Mondays. Opened at the Coronet (9/29) for 149 performances.vThe archb

13、ishops ceiling 大主教的天花板大主教的天花板1977 New York Drama Critics Circle Award as the best play of 1947 Background vAll My Sons is based upon a true story, which Arthur Millers then mother-in-law pointed out in an Ohio newspaper. The story described how a woman informed on her father who had sold faulty part

14、s to the U.S. military during World War II.BackgroundvHenrik Ibsens influence on Miller is evidenced from the Ibsen play The Wild Duck, where Miller took the idea of two partners in a business where one is forced to take moral and legal responsibility for the other. This is mirrored in All My Sons.

15、He also borrowed the idea of a characters idealism being the source of a problem. Joe KellervIn Joe Keller, Arthur Miller creates just a representative type. Joe is a very ordinary man, decent, hard-working and charitable, a man no-one could dislike. But, like the protagonist of the ancient drama, h

16、e has a flaw or weakness. This, in turn, causes him to act wrongly. He is forced to accept responsibility - his suicide is necessary to restore the moral order of the universe, and allows his son, Chris, to live free from guilt and persecution. The play focuses on Joe Kellers conflict of responsibil

17、ities, his responsibility to his family and that to wider society To Keller there is nothing greater than the family Unlike his father, Chris feels society and other people play a main part in a persons responsibility Chris shows moral responsibility while his father Joe shows intense family respons

18、ibility. vAll My Sons is a criticism of the American Dream Keller has apparently achieved the American Dream - he lives in a comfortable house despite being an uneducated man. Miller is emphasizing the hollowness of the American Dream and that one should think about the consequences of our actions.

19、However, this material comfort which Keller has worked to provide his family with the very best is of little consequence. His strong family unit is an illusion - his wife is ill, Chris is discontent and Larry has committed suicide as a result of his fathers narrow-minded decision the American Dream

20、has become more like an American Nightmare vAs there were large contracts when America entered the war on two fronts, the conditions were created for what Arthur Miller described as profiteering on a vast scale.v Chris Keller is particularly angry that his selflessness in fighting in the war is cont

21、rasted by the selfishness of those making money off the war vWhen Chris finds out his father is responsible for killing the 21 pilots, he replies I was dying every day and you were killing my boys - and it is very notable Chris refers to the pilots as his boys and says I was dying every day; making

22、them closer to himself and trying to indicate to the audience the extent of which he feels he has moral obligation to society.v Historical BackgrounduThe United States emerged from World War II with unrivaled economic power.uwartime improvements in technology had increased productivity so greatly th

23、at production of consumer goods and foodstuffs soared, and the price levels were soon fully stabilized. Likewise, after a brief recession, the economy experienced a prolonged boom.vA peacetime value system of the pursuit of personal happiness replaced the wartime one of sacrifice.vGI Bill of Rights

24、. The single-minded pursuit of delayed careers and the devotion to deferred families that the GI Bill allowed became the American dream of success.vIt was against this social and economic background that Arthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman. Acknowledging the capacity and opportunity for the aver

25、age person to fulfill the American dream, Miller shows the perversion of the fantasy. Willy Loman and his sons epitomize the failure of middle-class values inherent in the expectation of success-phony advertising, backslapping, and flashy salesmanship at the expense of personal honor.vThe play cente

26、rs on the emotional deterioration of Willy Loman, an aging and not too successful salesman, who can hardly distinguish between his memories of a brighter past and his setbacks in the dismal present. vIn the course of the play Willy grapples with the loss of his job and the failure of his two grown s

27、ons to achieve wealth, and with it, presumably, happiness Major CharactersvWilly Loman- the salesman who is past his prime, and who was never an exceptional businessman in his prime in his vLinda Loman- Willys wife who loves him despite all of his difficulties vBiff Loman- Willys eldest son for whom

28、 he had dreams of greatness vHappy Loman- Willys younger son Willy LomanvWilly Loman - An insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. Nor do his sons fulfill his hope. When Willys illusions begin

29、 to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel（瓦解）. The overwhelming tensions caused by this despair, as well as those caused by the societal imperatives that drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of a Salesman. Linda Loman vLinda Loman ，Willys loy

30、al, loving wife. Linda suffers through Willys grandiose dreams and self-delusions.v Occasionally, she seems to be taken in by Willys self-deluded hopes for future glory and success, but at other times, she seems far more realistic and less fragile than her husband. vShe has nurtured the family throu

31、gh all of Willys misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support Willy until his collapse. vWillys thirty-four-year-old elder son. Biff led a charmed life in high school as a football star.v Biff represents Willys vulnerable, poetic, tragic side. He cannot ignore h

32、is instincts, which tell him to abandon Willys paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands. vHe ultimately fails to reconcile (顺从)his life with Willys expectations of himHappy Lomanvbusiness ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superior s. Willys thirty-two-year-old younger s

33、on. Happy represents Willys sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations. vAlthough he works as an assistant in a department store, Happy presents himself as supremely important. vAdditionally, he practices badThemesvThe American DreamvAbandonment/BetrayalvThe Dan

34、gers of Modernity vGender Relations vMadness vNostalgia vOpportunity vGrowth The American DreamWillys view:vAmerican Dreamthat a “well liked” and “personally attractive” man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life. SuperficialWillys i

35、nterpretation of likeability is superficialhe childishly dislikes Bernard because he considers Bernard a nerdblind Willys blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life.Aba

36、ndonment/BetrayallBiffs betrayal of willys ambitions for himlWilly believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him. l When Biff walks out on Willys ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with “insult” and “spite”). Biff feels that Willy, a “phony little fake,” has betrayed him with his unending stream of ego-stroking liesThe Dangers of Modernityv1950s vconsumerism and