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Amazon.co.uk 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' 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, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
The 1953 radio production of Arthur Miller's masterpiece, Death of a Salesman, with Thomas Mitchell and Arthur Kennedy, gets the Broadway treatment by Elia Kazan (who premiered the play). It was a sensation to audiences in 1949 and continues to move with its mix of cynical satire, realism and pathos. - Robert Giddings, Tribune Magazine
--This text refers to the
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A melody is heard, played upon a flute. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
A melody is heard, played upon a flute. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Death of a Salesman is a trdgedy of the common man. It is mainly concerned with the fulfillment of the American Dream, but it also shows aspects of family life and commercilalism. Willy Loman is a failed salesman, who forces his dreams onto his two sons, Biff and Happy. Biff had a promising future but after an incident, refused to take part in the American dream, and chooses to 'Bum around' on farms 'out West'. His Brother Happy is the assistant to one of the assistant buyers, but sees himself as a great success. Miller concentrates on how the characters lie to themselves about who and what they are, and this is ultimatly the downfall of Willy, Happy and possibly Biff. The play is an important lesson for all. Although written in the forties, it is still increadibly relavent today in this age of consumerism and the tremedous desire for success. I have recently read this play, and it has changed my whole perspective on life, aspects of the play are constantly mirrored in every day life, and I am sure one of the characters will be relavent to you. This play - contraversial in the forties and fifties leading to Miller being charged with anti-American activities - should be read by all, putting your feet firmly on the ground.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I suppose this iconic American play is depressing, in a way, as some other reviewers have said. So's 'Hamlet'. The old Greek view of tragedy was that it should purge the mind by means of pity and terror - there should be a catharsis - and whether we are looking at the Oedipus plays, or Shakespeare (King Lear'? Old man dies, so do all three of his daughters, his closest allies, etc., etc.) or this play, that is what we get. I think it's a measure of 'Death of a Salesman' that it can be considered at the same time as Shakespeare, but perhaps it comes closer to some of us because the hero is so recognisable - not a king, a prince or someone from an exotic time and place but a commission-only salesman down on his luck and chasing shadows. What cannot be disputed is that this is a beautifully crafted play full of memorable lines and with a group of well-delineated characters whose interplay really, really works. The haunting use of music and of Willy's flashbacks (its original title was 'In His Mind', or something like that, if I remember correctly) are its memorable trademarks. It has valid claims to being the greatest of twentieth-century plays in English, and if it is depressing, perhaps that's something we just have to put up with.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Death of a salesman is the story of the tragic figure Willy Loman. Willy fights for success for himself and his son Biff. However his attempts are in vain as his hopes are just dreams. These dreams laed to his ultimate suicide
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A poignant look at the futility of the American Dream
Well I read this play for my English Literature class. Our unit was simply titled `Tragedy' and that pretty much sums up the play in a single word. Read more
Published 24 days ago by Books Worth Remembering
classic play
good quality classic play by arthur miller educational must , would buy again, gr8 and value, well packaged, prompt service, try it out
Published 5 months ago by John Gladwin
When a smile and a bit of shoeshine no longer produce smiles in return
I came to Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem (Penguin Modern Classics) via a description of its author in Max Frisch's Amerika!. Read more
Published 6 months ago by AK
Very good
Book came in the expected time. I have been using it and it is easy to read. Some of the words in it have not been printed brilliantyly. But overall i would recommend this.
Published 8 months ago by Steven
Meh. Not my thing.
I can understand why others would enjoy this kind of play, but it's just not for me. I'm not saying it's badly written or anything, I'm just not really fond of the plot.
Published 12 months ago by Jenny
Depressing but poignant
I should say that I don't really read or watch many plays. The only plays I've read or seen, in fact, have been in some way related to school or university and it's the same with... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. S. A. Brown
Great for GCSE!
This is a great copy of the play for GCSE study - durable with useful exercises in the back for keeping track of the story-line, themes and characters - but I think it is being... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Helen Brazier
Shockingly simple
My father had directed a TV drama based on this book so I have known this book/text for a long time but I have always avoided reading it. Read more
Published on 15 April 2009 by Ogun Eratalay
Great Play from a Great Playwright
This is a great play and well worth reading. It is still relevant today as we see the relentless machine of consumerism and the pressure on human life this brings. Read more
Published on 10 April 2009 by I. M. Knight
A Parable of the Modern Age
I read this at GCSE, too many years ago, and failed to connect much, but revisiting it as an adult, it is a harrowing tale of consumerist society. Read more
Published on 29 July 2008 by Maclennane
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