Arthur Miller
ArthurMiller的英文简介
Arthur MillerArthur Miller is a great dramatist to come out of the 1940s; he has led the postwar new drama along with Tennessee Williams.Arthur Miller lived in the postwar period. The history background of this period multi-faceted: The world warⅡleaves people in fright and disturbance. Cold war and McCarthyism intensify the sense of fright. People started to doubt that technique really can bring people bliss. Besides, baby boom leads to the surge of population, which causes many environmental problems. Civil right movement in the 1960s gives black people much motivation, promoting the flourish of post war African American literature.Literature in this period is considered as “multi-cultural”literature. Many forms of post-modern fiction appeared, such as metafiction, anti-novel, surfiction, etc. The same mood in this period is despair, but continuing to search absurdity of modern life; lonely, but searching for the meaning of existence; identity.A typical theme of Arthur Miller’s concerns the dilemma of modern man in relation to his family and work. What occurs often in a miller play is that the hero finds himself under a pressure from his society and its ethics, 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. The world is harsh. There is little or no choice for the hero. Either he submits to the impossible demands of society, or he rejects them. He dies in either case. Miller is, however, not completely pessimistic. Reading his plays, one feels a faith in man and in life, however vague it may be, though very often gloom overweighs hope.Arthur Miller is best known as author of Death of a Salesman. It is a sad version of the American dream. The staging of death of a salesman, his masterpiece, won him the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and established him once and for all as a writer of no small talent. When miller did was to wipe out the old realistic stage setting and go back to the Elizabethan kind of stage where the audience saw a house which was only a frame.。
米勒简介及其主要作品
In 1940 Miller wrote The Man Who Had All the Luck, which was produced in New Jersey in 1940 and won the Theatre Guild's National Award
In 1946 Miller's play All My Sons, the writing of which had commenced in 1941, was a success on Broadway (earning him his first Tony Award, for Best Author) and his reputation as a playwright was established
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In 1999 Miller was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize
Miller's career as a writer spanned over seven decades, and at the time of his death, Miller was considered to be one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century
It was the first play to win all three of these major awards（ Tony Award for Best Author ， New York Drama Circle Critics‘ Award ， Pulitzer Prize for Drama ）. The play was performed 742 times
Arthur Miller
Winner of many literary and dramatic award, Miller is an important force in American drama. His major characters are ordinary and suffering individuals seemingly trapped by naturalistic circumstances. And yet, Miller points out, they have dignity if not human greatness.
美国梦破灭
米勒受到歧视的犹太人身份使他始终以局外 人之姿清醒地旁社会并与之斗争的个人， 绝大部分作品都在扮演其私人 生活中所遭遇的问题。于是他 的戏剧几乎成了20世纪前半期 美国历史的忠实记录：大萧条， 二战，麦卡锡主义，冷战，这 些重大事件成了他重复使用的 戏剧背景。有人称之为 “美国的易卜生”。
“highly self-destructive“. During their marriage"all my energy and attention was devoted to trying to help her solve her problems. Unfortunately, I didn't have much success."
All My Sons 《全是我儿子》制造商 凯勒在二战期间向美国空军出售残次 部件，导致21名飞行员机毁人亡，后 他又将罪责推给合伙人。当他得知遇 难的飞行员中有自己的儿子时，受到 良心谴责，终于愧疚自杀。
DEATH OF A SALESMAN (1949) 推销员 之死 brought Miller international fame, and become one of the major achievements of modern American theatre. 主人公威利· 洛曼是个旅行推销员， 一生失意，老来潦倒不堪，只希望 儿子能出人头地。但大儿子比夫年 过30，连一份正式工作也没混上， 二儿子哈比只会寻花问柳，也是个 废物。两个儿子在母亲激励下终于 鼓起勇气想干一番事业，于是跟父 亲约定晚上在小酒馆会面，共商振 兴大计。而当天上午老威利竟被少 东家辞了，晚上来到酒馆一看，两 兄弟却在喝闷酒，原来比夫向老同 学借钱碰了钉子，拟定的发财计划 已化为泡影。威利大失所望，气得 神志昏迷，比夫和哈比趁机挽着女 友溜了。威利对自己、对儿子、对 整个生活不再抱任何希望，出门故 意撞车而死。
Arthur Miller的英文简介
Arthur Miller的英文简介Arthur Miller Arthur Miller is a great dramatist to come out of the 1940s; he has led the postwar new drama along with Tennessee Williams. Arthur Miller lived in the postwar period. The history background of this period multi-faceted: The world warⅡ leaves people in fright and disturbance. Cold war and McCarthyism intensify the sense of fright. People started to doubt that technique really can bring people bliss. Besides, baby boom leads to the surge of population, which causes many environmental problems. Civil right movement in the 1960s gives black people much motivation, promoting the flourish of post war African American literature. Literature in this period is considered as “multi-cultural” literature. Many forms of post-modern fiction appeared, such as metafiction, anti-novel, surfiction, etc. The same mood in this period is despair, but continuing to search absurdity of modern life; lonely, but searching for the meaning of existence; identity. A typical theme of Arthur Miller’s conce rns the dilemma of modern man in relation to his family and work. What occurs often in a miller play is that the hero finds himself under a pressure from his society and its ethics, 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. The world is harsh. There is little or no choice for the hero. Either he submits to the impossible demands of society, or he rejects them. He dies in either case. Miller is, however, not completely pessimistic. Reading his plays, one feels a faith in man and in life, however vague it may be, though very often gloom overweighs hope. Arthur Miller is best known as author of Death of a Salesman. It is a sad version of the American dream. The staging of death of a salesman, his masterpiece, won him the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and established him once and for all as a writer of no small talent. When miller did was to wipe out the old realistic stage setting and go back to the Elizabethan kind of stage where the audience saw a house which was only a frame.。
Arthur Miller
Ibsen: Norwegian playwright who influenced the development of modern drama with his realistic masterpieces. His major works include Peer Gynt (1867), A Doll's House (1879), and Ghosts (1881). Emphasizing character over plot, Ibsen addressed social problems such as political corruption and the changing role of women as well as psychological conflicts stemming from frustrated love and destructive family relationships. Ibsen was also well known for the dramatic form in which serious matters could be dealt with in the "trivial" guise of everyday life.He greatly influenced European theatre and is regarded as the founder of modern prose drama.
Saved up enough money to go to University of Michigan / began writing plays and radio scripts
All My Sons (1947) fostering his reputation as an Ibsenian playwright / Death of a Salesman (1947) won him Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize
美国文学 阿瑟.米勒( arthur miller)
Miller 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 greater American psyche. His 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.
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 in New York City after he received his degree.
阅读理解.ArthurMille...
阅读理解。
Arthur Miller (1915 - 2005) is universallyrecognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century.Miller' s father had moved to the USA from Austria. Hungary, drawn like so many others by the "Great American Dream".However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his familybusiness was ruined in the Great Depression of the early l930s.Millers' s most famous play, Death of a Salesman, is apowerful attack on the American system, with its aggressive way ofdoing business and its insistence on money and social status asindicators of worth.In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see aman who has got into trouble with his worth. Willy is "burnt out"and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sentiment: ifhe can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this,and at loss as to what to do with his lack of success. He refuses toface the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.When it was first staged in 1949, the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and it won the Tony Award for Best Play, theNew York Drama Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize forDrama.It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury,Connecticut, on the evening of February 10, 2005, the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman onBroadway.1. Why did Arthur Miller' s father move to the USA?A. He suffered from severe hunger in his home country.B. He was attracted by the "Great American Dream".C. He hoped to make his son a dramatist.D. His family business failed.2. The play Death o f a Salesman ____ .A. exposes the cruelty of the American business worldB. discusses the ways to get promoted in a companyC. talks about the business career of Arthur MillerD. focuses on the skills in doing business3. What can we learn about Willy Loman?A. He treats his employer badly.B. He runs the Wagner Company.C. He is a victim of the American systemD. He is regarded as a hero by his colleagues4. After it was first staged, Death o f a Salesman ____ .A.achieved huge successB.won the first Tony AwardC. was warmly welcomed by salesmenD. was severely attacked by dramatists5.What is the text mainly about?A. Arthur Miller and his family.B.The awards Arthur Miller wonC.The hardship Arthur Miller experienced.D. Arthur Miller and his best-known play. 1-5: BACAD。
Arthur Miller
家庭情况
• 第二任妻子：玛丽莲· 梦露（Marilyn Monroe）（美国20世纪最著名的电影女演 员之一） • 第三任妻子：英格· 莫拉斯（摄影师） • 女儿：瑞贝卡· 米勒（Rebecca Miller）（导 演） • 女婿：丹尼尔· 刘易斯（Daniel Day Lewis） 戴· （演员） • 儿
个人概况
• 阿瑟· 米勒出生在一个中产阶级犹太家庭。他的父亲是一个服装制造商，但是在大萧条 时期却没钱供阿瑟· 米勒上大学。米勒只好一边在纽约的一家仓库里打工，一边在密歇 根大学读书，1938年他获得了一个学士学位。阿瑟· 米勒一生获奖无数，包括1949年普 利策奖，两次纽约戏剧批评家奖，奥利维尔最佳剧作奖。1953年冷战达到高潮，米勒 创作了他最著名的一部剧《TheCrucible》（译为“炼狱”）。创作这部戏是为了回应麦 卡锡参议员对所谓共产党同情者的镇压。在 80岁高龄的时候，他还创作了影射梦露的 作品《完成画面》。 是美国半个世纪以来最杰出的剧作家，还写过两部小说。1987年写了回忆录《时间弯 曲》，年过古稀时，还写了剧本《踏破摩根山》和《末代美国佬》。他的作品针砭时 弊、直言不讳，被誉为20世纪良心的代表。其中《推销员之死》是其最有影响的代表 作。 一九七八年，米勒来华访问，回国后出版《访问中国》一书。一九八一年，《萨勒姆 女巫》在华上演，获得很大成功。一九八三年，米勒再度来华，亲自执导《推销员之 死》，次年出版《“推销员”在北京》一书，从此他和中国结下了不解之缘。
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自传体剧本《堕落之后》记述了他与好莱坞名演员玛丽莲· 梦露一段并不成功的婚姻生 活，也深刻剖析了左翼知识分子的内心
主要作品
• All my sons 《我的儿子们》 1947 • Death of a salesman 《推销员之死》 1949 • The Crucible 《萨勒姆的女巫》 1953 • A View from the Bridge 《桥头眺望》 1955 • Incident at Vichy 《维系事件》 1964
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米勒受到歧视的犹太人身仹使他 始终以局外人之姿清醒地旁观美 国主流文化。
米勒兲注的焦点始终是生活 在美国社会幵与之斗争的个人， 绝大部分作品都在扮演其私人 生活中所遭遇的问题。于是他 的戏剧几乎成了20世纪前半期 美国历史的忠实记彔：大萧条， 二战，麦卡锡主义，冷战，这 些重大事件成了他重复使用的 戏剧背景。有人称之为 “美国的易卜生”。
In America, the Great Depression may be said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of stock-market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929.
Tragedy and the Common Man
Winner of many literary and dramatic award, Miller is an important force in American drama. His major characters are ordinary and suffering individuals seemingly trapped by naturalistic circumstances. And yet, Miller points out, they have dignity if not human greatness.
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world.
It was with Death of a Salesman in 1949 that Miller secured his reputation as one of the nation's foremost playwrights.
In 1956, Miller married actress Marilyn Monroe. The two divorced in 1961, the year of her death. That year Monroe appeared in her last film, The Misfits, an original screenplay by Miller. After divorcing Monroe, Miller wed Ingeborg Morath.
Willy Loman
resents
protect
Charley
(Willy’s long-time friend) Son of
Biff Loman
(older son)
Linda Loman
(Willy’s wife)
Bernard
(successful lawyer)
Happy Loman
(younger son)
“highly self-destructive“. During their marriage"all my energy and attention was devoted to trying to help her solve her problems. Unfortunately, I didn't have much success."
Willy is the victim of society, particularly a victim of a harsh economic system that first uses and then discards him.
Important Quotations
“Because [Biff] thinks I’m nothing, see, and so he spites me. But the funeral—straightening up: Ben, that funeral will be massive! They’ll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire! All the old-timers with the strange license plates— that boy will be thunder-struck, Ben, because he never realized —I am known!”
“ I put thirty-four years into this firm,Howard, and now I can’t pay my insurance! You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away ---- a man is not a piece of fruit!”
《推销员之死》 Death of a salesman
playwright Tragedy and The Common Man Death of A Salesman
". . . the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing ---- his sense of personal dignity." －－ AM in "Tragedy and the Common Man"
不仅强者、胜者，就是那些弱者、被鱼肉的失败者，也相信这 种美国的自由。经过了西奥多·罗斯福时代的迚步主义的洗礼， 到了大萧条时代，那些失业者、失败者们，还是相信摩根、卡 耐基时代的美国梦，把失败的责仸归咎于自身。据研究大萧条 到二战时期的美国的著名历史学家戴维·肯尼迪记述，在大萧条 时代，纽约每个周末，都有几万工人被送到体育场看橄榄球， 等比赛结束、大家过完瘾后，老板出来宣布：对不起，大家现 在被解雇。当时妇女不工作，一个人的工资要养活全家。这样 解雇，等于每周几万家庭砸了饭碗。但是，当时很少有暴力反 抗，人们认命，责怪自己不争气。肯尼迪的父亲就是当时的失 业者，一生不提那一段艰难的经历，即使儿子反复追问，也难 以启齿。因为他觉得得自己丢了工作不光彩，幵不觉得社会或 老板对不起自己。他们觉得美国给了他们机会，失败只有怪自己。
The Tragedy of Willy
Willy is the victim of the American dream. His tragedy is caused by his faith in accomplishing it, which means success through working hard and obtaining others’ acceptance by popular personality. He believes “ a man can end up with deing liked.” Though he has carried out this doctrine for nearly forty years, he has to commit suicide to declare the complete bankruptcy of his life-long dream.
剧中的威利·洛曼，就是密勒的 父辈那样痴迷于美国梦的一个推销 员。他不仅自己一生追逐财富， 而且也教育孩子同样的哲学。 最后，人老了，跑不动了， 不得不央求比自己年轻得多的老 板不要解雇自己。那句吞下自己 的尊严哀求的台词，成了战后美 国的一句名言：“你不能吃了桔 子就把皮给扔掉，人不是水果！ ”最后山穷水尽，自己一直视为 骄傲的儿子，也被自己灌输的人 生哲学所毒害，没有一个争气。
Arthur Miller was born in a Jewish family in October, 1915 in New York City, the son of a clothing manufacturer who was ruined during the economic depression of the 1930s. He held odd jobs after high school to pay his way at the University of Michigan, where he began to write plays.
米勒试图说服被大萧条打得落花流水的父亲： 要责怪的不仅仅是个人，这个弱肉强食的资本主义制度， 才应该为一切承担主要责仸。
我的绝望主要来自典型的大萧条症状。
米勒终生被这种后遗症困扰，对以 美国梦为代表的资本主义社会主流 观念的质询贯穿他的艺术生涯。在 《推销员之死》一剧中，美国梦破灭 的主题得到淋漓尽致的诠释。怀抱 天真幻想的小人物的个人奋斗遭残 酷现实打败，社会发展的车轮无情 碾过被淘汰的生命，美国梦成为埋 葬自我的幽暗梦魇。
Arthur Miller married Marilyn Monroe in 1956
Arthur Miller with Marilyn Monroe after their wedding
Arthur Miller with Marilyn Monroe: great American artists, but the USA wasn't grateful to either of them.