Death of a Salesman - Mille feuilles

mass market paperback, 139 pages

English language

Published March 25, 1976 by Penguin Books, Viking Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-048134-1
OCLC Number:: 1088074158

(1 review)

Ever since it was first performed in 1949, Death of a Salesman has been recognized as a milestone of the American theater. In the person of Willy Loman, the aging, failing salesman who makes his living riding on a smile and a shoeshine, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic hero as a man whose dreams are at once insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial. he has given us a figure whose name has become a symbol for a kind of majestic grandiosity--and a play that compresses epic extremes of humor and anguish, promise and loss, between the four walls of an American living room. --back cover

44 editions

Maia@bookwyrm.social reviewed Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

3 stars

A fairly powerful comment on the destructive powers of American dream, on consumerism and the relationship between a father and his sons. In parts a confusing play to read, as large sections are composed of memories and hallucinations that are signposted only by stage instructions, meaning it would be simpler to understand the play in action rather than on paper. Indeed I would like to see the play on stage as the set design and use of different elements (such as characters walking through walls during hallucinations and memories) is quite unusual! I am not an American, or remotely involved in the "travelling salesman" industry, so I can't really judge how accurately this play represents the lived experience in America. I can only see how the same emotions run through the minds of many who do not know which of the paths in life to follow: passions, dollars, expectations, or …

A fairly powerful comment on the destructive powers of American dream, on consumerism and the relationship between a father and his sons. In parts a confusing play to read, as large sections are composed of memories and hallucinations that are signposted only by stage instructions, meaning it would be simpler to understand the play in action rather than on paper. Indeed I would like to see the play on stage as the set design and use of different elements (such as characters walking through walls during hallucinations and memories) is quite unusual! I am not an American, or remotely involved in the "travelling salesman" industry, so I can't really judge how accurately this play represents the lived experience in America. I can only see how the same emotions run through the minds of many who do not know which of the paths in life to follow: passions, dollars, expectations, or a combination of the above. This play comes to a fairly singular conclusion as to which path you should follow (no prizes for guessing which!), and so it seems a well-worn tale in this theme of literature.