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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 812.52
EAN: 9780140481341
ISBN: 0140481346
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: October 06, 1998
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sales Rank: 1989
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The tragedy of a typical American--a salesman who at the age of sixty-three is faced with what he cannot face; defeat and disillusionment.
Amazon.com Review:
Arthur Miller's 1949 Death of a Salesman has sold 11 million copies, and Willy Loman didn't make all those sales on a smile and a shoeshine. This play is the genuine article--it's got the goods on the human condition, all packed into a day in the life of one self-deluded, self-promoting, self-defeating soul. It's a sturdy bridge between kitchen-sink realism and spectral abstraction, the facts of particular hard times and universal themes. As Christopher Bigsby's mildly interesting afterword in this 50th-anniversary edition points out (as does Miller in his memoir, Timebends), Willy is closely based on the playwright's sad, absurd salesman uncle, Manny. But of course Miller made Manny into Everyman, and gave him the name of the crime commissioner Lohmann in Fritz Lang's angst-ridden 1932 Nazi parable, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
The tragedy of Loman the all-American dreamer and loser works eternally, on the page as on the stage. A lot of plays made history around 1949, but none have stepped out of history into the classic canon as Salesman has. Great as it was, Tennessee Williams's work can't be revived as vividly as this play still is, all over the world. (This edition has edifying pictures of Lee J. Cobb's 1949 and Brian Dennehy's 1999 performances.) It connects Aristotle, The Great Gatsby, On the Waterfront, David Mamet, and the archetypal American movie antihero. It even transcends its author's tragic flaw of pious preachiness (which undoes his snoozy The Crucible, unfortunately his most-produced play).
No doubt you've seen Willy Loman's story at least once. It's still worth reading. --Tim Appelo
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Superb look at the Human Condition
This classic play by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) examines human failure, high expectations, and the dark side of the American Dream. Willie Loman is an aging salesman whose figures have fallen to the point where he no longer makes a real living. Not only is his job in jeopardy; so is his family and self-worth. Loman reacts by deluding himself, living in the past, and by holding his sons to unrealistic expectations. Miller does a superb job in presenting a broken man sliding downwards. Such occurs in the sordid race of materialism and corporate success - one that leaves many broken souls in its path. Willie needs to face reality, and mend himself and his struggling family (and his family should help him too), but Miller's powerful script doesn't go there. Instead we have a deluded, beaten man sliding into mental illness - and worse.
Miller penned this play in 1949, as the USA was moving into postwar changes and a more suburbanized, corporate society. This play about the brutish world of expectations, materialism, and the illusive American dream is as much on target today as in 1949.
Rating: - Rat Race Lost, State of Denial
Hopeless fathers & sons were a favorite theme of Miller. The pressure of failing aspirations. The horror of failure. Drawn between overconfidence and self-doubt. Flashbacks on scenes from a dreary life. Lies to others and oneself. Failures in job and family.
The play is one of the quintessential pieces of modern American theater. Its themes are known and have been expounded endlessly. Why is it still fresh? I have never watched it on stage nor screen. I have known it for ages, but could not find enough interest to look for a performance, nor to read it. Now LoA does it.
Looking at the reviews here on the Penguin modern classic page, I am wondering about the spread in reviews. From 5 to 1 stars all is there, with a downward slope towards the negative votes. The play has more friends than foes, but on an absolute level, the nays would sink an ordinary ship. Of course quality questions are not decided by democracy. One particularly daft observer produced a perfect inverted version of cultural Stalinism. With perfect perverted logic, he tells us that only positive depictions of the American dream are acceptable. That is completely in line with 'socialist realism': if the artist fails to enthuse about the reigning system, he is condemned.
Thanks to LoA for making me get to know the man Miller. I will definitely look for a movie version or go to a play if I find an opportunity.
Rating: - Great Play!
Summary:
"Death of a Salesman" is a play by Arthur Miller about an aging man named Willy Loman and his broken dreams. Willy is in his sixties, and had just been demoted from his once fruitful job as a traveling salesman. Because of his growing depression and his frequent car accidents, he had his salary taken away, and has been put on commission.
Throughout the play, Willy recalls his life in a series of flashbacks, while we see what he has become in the present. He went from having an illustrious career where everyone loved him and he brought home a large salary, to a depressing home life and earning money off the occasional sale. His two sons Biff and Happy, were once successful athletes. Now Biff is 34 years old with no job and no high school diploma. Happy appears to be following in his fathers footsteps, making many of the same mistakes that he did. Willy can't stand to be around his wife, Linda, anymore because of his overwhelming guilt over an extramarital affair that happened several decades ago, that his son found out about.
Near the end of the play, Willy fantasizes that he is talking to his dead brother Ben, who had been an inspiration to him since he struck it rich in Alaska. Willy attempts suicide several times, once by hooking an exhaust pipe to the gas heater, and several times by purposefully driving recklessly.
When he tries to get his original job back, he gets fired by a man young enough to be his son. He tells this man, Howard Wagner, how he expected ... Read More
Rating: - A Modern Tragedy
"Death of a Salesman" is a modern American tragedy. Yet, it can apply equally to any society where individuals become self-obsessed, lose touch with the bigger picture and allow themselves to be deluded by dreams of riches whilst ignoring the beauty of the day to day world.
Poor Willy Loman is a very sad figure. He wallows in the past. He has grandiose dreams about himself and his two adult sons, Happy and Biff. But these dreams are not rooted in any reality. Quite simply, Willy is lost and lonely.
Arthur Miller's play is a masterpiece. Few other 20th century playwrights have been able to surgically dissect society so well. Miller's work is not for those seeking a happy ending where everything is resolved and the characters happily fade away. No, this work is brutal in comparison. Willy Loman is an anti-hero. He is hard to like. He is, however, worthy of our pity. His life, at least through his own eyes, is one of failure. But, in reality, Willy is no failure. He is simply deluded. He has swallowed the American dream to the point where its goals merely impoverish him. The dream, any dream, is what you make of it and should not be imposed upon the individual. Willy allows the dream to ruin his life. Willy is the ultimate tragic.
Many deem "Death of a Salesman" to be a critique of American society. This is unfair. Miller's work is the précis of a tragic life. Willy is that tragedy. To dream is magnificent. To allow a dream to dominate your ... Read More
Rating: - Take a Second Look
I wasn't terribly impressed with "Death of a Salesman" while I read it. The play simply didn't live up to its acclaim, its noble status in American literature. I've heard Salesman referenced countless times over my life, all 22 years of it. Salesman was written in 1949, a post-war era that supported the belief that starting anew was possible and wishes do come true. My first impression of the play was that it attempted to shatter the ubiquitous belief of an American dream, making it merely a quixotic fantasy. But after rereading certain passages and thinking about it for this review, I saw how very human its message is and how it is actually an incredibly despairing masterpiece that throws a new light at the idea behind the American dream. Through the utterly destroyed and distraught protagonist, Willy Loman, Miller represents the demise of the American dream and suggests the need to reassess such a unrealistic dream.
Loman is a revised, twentieth-century version of the classic tragic character. He does not display the typical chivalrous characteristics that many literary tragic characters do, such as Beowulf and Oedipus Rex. Loman, in fact, is pathetic and repugnant. As an older aged, crazy, and impoverished character, Loman isn't close to the traditional heroic figure. He cheats on his wife; builds up impratical hopes for his two sons; and makes imprudent business and life decisions. Such characteristics are sinful and generally not seen in the traditional tragic literary figure. ... Read More
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