Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was arguably the greatest American playwright of the twentieth century. His most famous work for the stage includes Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons and A View from the Bridge. Six volumes of his plays and a volume of his theatre essays are published by Methuen Drama. Claire Conceison is Quanta Professor of Chinese Culture and Professor of Theater Arts at MIT. She is a scholar, translator, and director. Her publications include the books Significant Other: Staging the American in China (2004); Ying Ruocheng’s autobiography Voices Carry: Behind Bars and Backstage During China's Revolution and Reform (2009); the anthology I Love XXX and Other Plays by Meng Jinghui (2017); and the introduction to ‘Death of a Salesman’ in Beijing (2015), a new edition of Arthur Miller’s 1984 book ‘Salesman’ in Beijing. She is a contributor to the volume Arthur Miller for the Twenty-First Century (2020). Susan C. W. Abbotson (series editor) is Professor of Dramatic Literature at Rhode Island College, USA.

Chronology


Introduction

Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts

Genre and Themes

Play as Performance

Production History

Academic Debate

Behind the scenes – Excerpts from interview with Chinese actor/translator Ying Ruocheng about working with Miller in Beijing in 1983

Further Study


Death of a Salesman


Notes