Approaches to Teaching Miller's Death of a Salesman
Editor(s): Matthew C. Roudané
Pages: xii & 178 pp.
Published: 1995
ISBN: 9780873527279 (cloth)
ISBN: 9780873527286 (paperback)
"This new volume in the MLA's useful, meticulously edited series maintains the high quality established by its predecessors. In fact, the 14 essays, by such scholars as Ruby Cohn, Thomas P. Adler, Barbara Lounsberry, James Hurt, and June Schlueter, in some cases exceed the exacting standards already set.... A balanced, lucid, well-written, and imaginatively conceived and executed book."
Choice
"If one were to hazard a guess as to what American play is the most studied at the university level," writes Matthew C. Roudané, "it might not be too fanciful to suggest Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman." As this volume attests, not only is the play extensively taught; it also lends itself to a range of instructional approaches.
The book is divided into two parts. Part 1, "Materials," surveys editions, anthologies, and a large selection of published works on Miller. Part 2, "Approaches," comprises fourteen concise, helpful essays by experienced instructors. The approaches described include considering Death of a Salesman as the "quintessential" American play; focusing on the importance of the stage directions and scenery; comparing Willy Loman with salesmen in plays by O'Neill and Mamet; and reading the play from psychoanalytic, poststructuralist, sociological, and feminist perspectives. The extensive works-cited list at the end of the volume includes audiovisual aids.
Table of Contents
Approaches to Teaching Miller's Death of a Salesman
PART 1: MATERIALS
Matthew C. Roudané
Editions
- Readings for Students and Teachers
- Bibliographies and Checklists
- Biographical Dimensions
- The Instructor's Library
- Critical Studies
- Collections of Critical Essays
- Text and Performance
- Further Selected Readings
Courses
PART 2: APPROACHES
Introduction
Prologue: Arthur Miller and the Modern Stage
Contextualizing Death of a Salesman as an American Play
Susan Harris Smith
Text and Performance
Utilizing the Initial Stage Directions in Death of a Salesman
Alexander G. Gonzalez
Celebrating Stylistic Contradictions: Death of a Salesman from a Theatrical Perspective
Susan C. Haedicke
Miller's Mindscape: A Scenic Approach to Death of a Salesman
Thomas P. Adler
"The Woods Are Burning": Expressionism in Death of a Salesman
Barbara Lounsberry
Critical Concerns
The Dramatist as Salesman: A Rhetorical Analysis of Miller's Intentions and Effects
Martin J. Jacobi
Miller's Use and Modification of the Realist Tradition
William W. Demastes
The Crisis of Authenticity: Death of a Salesman and the Tragic Muse
Stephen Barker
The Sociosymbolic Work of Family in Death of a Salesman
Linda Kintz
Beyond the Male Locker Room: Death of a Salesman from a Feminist Perspective
Jan Balakian
American Myths
Why Willy Is Confused: The Effects of a Paradigm Shift in Death of a Salesman
Paula Marantz Cohen
Family and History in Death of a Salesman
James Hurt
Re-membering Willy's Past: Introducing Postmodern Concerns through Death of a Salesman
June Schlueter
Coda
"Oh, God I Hate This Job"
Ruby Cohn
Works Cited
Index
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