Introduction

Abstract

The introduction to this essay collection discusses how Arthur Miller’s work—written mostly in the twentieth century—continues to be relevant to twentieth-first-century audiences. The great themes of his work and career—family and society, individual and social conscience, private and public responsibility, and guilt and betrayal—are what engaged societies throughout the world in his time and continue to do so in our own. Interest in Miller’s work is fed by frequent revivals of his work on American and world stages. Since Miller wrote many of his plays as social and political commentary, many of his plays are viewed through the lens of current United States national issues or international crises. Miller’s large dramatic canon has always drawn scholars and theater critics from all disciplines with diverse approaches. Current Miller scholarship offers striking evaluations, increasingly from perspectives not seen before. This anthology brings together a group of established and emergent Miller scholars to provide new views of the relevance of Miller’s ideas to contemporary issues and to analyze why his works continue to resonate in cultures throughout the world. The collection includes a cross-section of critical perspectives and theories.