This collection of social, cultural, and historical documents and popular materials, with linking explanations and commentary, will help the reader to study the play in the context of its time and cultural background. The collected materials are designed to work with the play to highlight inherent conflicts within American society which lie at the heart of Death of a Salesman, and to explore how the play affects and is affected by social mores and beliefs. Salesmanship and the changing face of business, along with perceptions of sports, gender, and families, are explored through selections drawn from a rich variety of sources that help provide forceful evidence of the play's influence. Documents include essays, articles, and fiction, which have created or explored the social expectations of a typical American family in the late 1940s; unusual selections such as a self-analysis chart, an obituary, and a diary, which help to trace the history of salesmanship from the nineteenth century to the present day; and advertisements, song lyrics, speeches, how-to books, and other readings that promote an interdisciplinary study of the play.
More than 70 short primary documents illustrate the cultural, social and historical milieu of the time in which the play takes place. Topics explored under Cultural Myths and Values include the Protestant work ethic vs. myths of success, the myth of the golden West vs. urban myth, and the culture of youth vs. the culture of age. A chapter on economic forces provides materials on business vs. morality, humanity vs. technology, the haves and the have-nots, American business culture, the Depression, and how to be an effective salesman. A chapter on family and gender expectations includes documents on the roles of fathers and mothers, providers vs. cowboys or playboys, and homemakers vs. call girls. A chapter on sports and leisure features documents on amateur football and sports and American values. A final chapter examines the impact of Death of a Salesman on American culture. Each chapter is followed by study questions, topics for writing and discussion, and a list of suggested reading. This work is an ideal companion for interdisciplinary study of the play.

Understanding Death of a Salesman: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series)

Murphy, Brenda

Abbotson, Susan C. W.

Reference

Greenwood

This is a book-length study of the collaboration between Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan. Their intense creative relationship, fuelled by a deep personal affinity that endured until Williams's death, lasted from 1947 until 1960. The production of A Streetcar Named Desire established Williams as America's greatest playwright and Kazan as its most important director; together they created some of the most influential theatrical events of the post-war era. In this book Brenda Murphy analyses this artistic partnership and the plays and theatrical techniques the artists developed collaboratively in their productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Camino Real, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Sweet Bird of Youth. In addition, Murphy suggests alternative ways to examine the working relationship between playwright and director which can be applied to other practitioners in twentieth-century drama. The book contains numerous illustrations from important productions.

Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan: A Collaboration in the Theatre

Humor & Entertainment

Cambridge University Press

The importance of Native American realism is traced through a study of the evolution of dramatic theory from the early 1890s through World War I and the uniquely American innovations in realistic drama between world wars.

American Realism and American Drama, 1880–1940 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture, Series Number 22)

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

The Provincetown Players was a major cultural institution in Greenwich Village from 1916 to 1922, when American Modernism was conceived and developed. This study considers the group's vital role, and its wider significance in twentieth century American culture. Describing the varied and often contentious response to modernity among the Players, Brenda Murphy reveals the central contribution of the group of poets around Alfred Kreymborg's Others magazine, including William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Mina Loy and Djuna Barnes, and such modernist artists as Marguerite and William Zorach, Charles Demuth and Bror Nordfeldt, to the Players' developing modernist aesthetics.

The Provincetown Players and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama, Series Number 23)

The importance of Native American realism is traced through a study of the evolution of dramatic theory from the early 1890s through World War I and the uniquely American innovations in realistic drama between world wars.

American Realism and American Drama, 1880-1940 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)

This is the first book to provide a critical history of one of the American theater's most famous plays, Death of a Salesman. Brenda Murphy offers a detailed account of the most significant Salesman productions throughout the world, on the stage as well as in film, radio, and television. The play has also provided a number of memorable interpretations by actors such as Dustin Hoffman, George C. Scott, Frederic March, and Mel Gibson. The volume includes a production chronology, bibliography, discography, videography, and photographs from key productions.

Miller: Death of a Salesman (Plays in Production)

Congressional Theatre: Dramatizing McCarthyism on Stage, Film, and Television (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama, Series Number 11)

Congressional Theatre is the first book to identify and examine the significant body of plays, films, and teleplays that responded to the actions of the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the "show business hearings" it held between 1947 and 1960. Among the writers discussed are Arthur Miller, Bertolt Brecht, Lillian Hellman, Maxwell Anderson, Elia Kazan, Barrie Stavis, Herman Wouk, Eric Bentley, Saul Levitt, Budd Schulberg, Carl Foreman, Abraham Polonsky, and Walter Bernstein.

This is the first full production history of Long Day's Journey Into Night, by Eugene O'Neill. It provides a detailed account of the most significant productions throughout the world, on stage, film, and television. The book conveys the unique interpretations of the Tyrone family by such actors as Fredric March, Jason Robards, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Katharine Hepburn, Colleen Dewhurst, Ruby Dee, Kevin Spacey, Jack Lemmon, and Alan Bates, among other distinguished theatre artists. This history includes a production chronology, bibliography, discography and videography.

O'Neill: Long Day's Journey into Night (Plays in Production)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Murphy, Brenda. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Murphy, Brenda

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Murphy, Brenda. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Understanding Death of a Salesman: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series)

Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan: A Collaboration in the Theatre

American Realism and American Drama, 1880–1940 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture, Series Number 22)

The Provincetown Players and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama, Series Number 23)

American Realism and American Drama, 1880-1940 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)

Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan: A Collaboration in the Theatre

Miller: Death of a Salesman (Plays in Production)

Congressional Theatre: Dramatizing McCarthyism on Stage, Film, and Television (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama, Series Number 11)

O'Neill: Long Day's Journey into Night (Plays in Production)

O'Neill: Long Day's Journey into Night (Plays in Production)