Pulitzer-Prize winner Arthur Miller  (1915-2005) was a dramatist, screenwriter, novelist and essayist. He was born in New York to a well-to-do Polish-Jewish family who were ruined in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Although his first play, The man who had all the luck, ran on Broadway for just four days, this did not hinder his subsequent career.
 

The foundations of his reputation at home and internationally were laid by All my sons and Death of a salesman, which were first directed by Elia Kazan. During the period of McCarthyism, Miller wrote The crucible, which was inspired by the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1957, he was found guilty of contempt of Congress for his refusal to name names but his conviction was overturned a year later. His turbulent relationship with Marilyn Monroe, his second wife, was the basis of After the fall.
 

Miller’s plays are political in the same way as ancient Greek tragedy, by which he was inspired. He also studied and adapted works by Ibsen. His works embrace influences from European modernism, while stylistically they display a range of naturalistic, impressionistic and expressionist elements. Through his characters, Arthur Miller expressed his belief that the collective conscience is more important than the conformity imposed by capitalism, criticising phenomena such as racism, intolerance, and opportunism, but focussing above all on the illusory nature of the American dream and giving a voice to those for whom it is out of reach.
 

Arthur Miller revitalised social drama and was one of the most important playwrights of the post-war generation in America.

 

A short list of his plays:
All my sons, Death of a salesman, The crucible, A view from the bridge, The price. 

 

I’ve always made a point of not wasting my life, and everytime I come back here I know that all I’ve done is to waste my life. (Death of a salesman)

 

I want to be an American so I can work, that is the only wonder here – work! (A view from the bridge)