11 February 2005

Death of a playwright

Arthur Miller
1915-2005
One hit wonder

Well, two hits. But what hits! As Sara Nelson, editor and literary journalist, is quoted as saying in Salon:

I was introduced to Arthur Miller. Looking into the face of the creator of Death of a Salesman, I could think only two thoughts:
  1. Great play! And
  2. What was Marilyn Monroe really like?

2 comments:

Indri said...

Sara Nelson could have done her research and read or seen After the Fall; she would have gotten all her answers there.

And two hits? That's a little cold, my friend. His other works, plays and essays, may not be as well-known, but the "one-hit" formulation connotes that nothing else the creator did was worthwhile, and that's hardly the case with Miller.

Don't poke the theater critic.

Jonathan Korman said...

Fair enough: the implication that Miller never did anything else worthwhile is much too strong. Gustave Eiffel made some really good bridges, but in the sense I mean he was a one-hit wonder, too.