Christopher Bigsby – författare

Biography of one of the greatest of modern playwrights, Arthur Miller (1915-2005).This is the long-awaited biography of one of the twentieth century''s greatest playwrights whose postwar decade of work earned him international critical and popular acclaim.Arthur Miller was a prominent figure in American literature and cinema for over sixty years, writing a wide variety of plays - including The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, and Death of a Salesman - which are still performed, studied and lauded throughout the world.Born in 1915 to moderately affluent Jewish-American parents, Miller wrote during a fascinating time in American history. The Great Depression was a period of deprivation for many that left an indelible mark on the national psyche, and, like many, Miller found hope for the beleaguered common man in Communism. The Second World War elevated the common man to war hero, but when the Cold War subsequently began, the ugly elements of American conservatism freely persecuted writers and artists who had embraced Communism. Miller was among them. His refusal to give evidence against others to the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956 gave him a heroic role to play. In that same year, Arthur Miller momentously married the young actress Marilyn Monroe, a marriage that remains famous to this day. Christopher Bigsby''s gripping, meticulously researched biography, based on boxes of papers made available to him before Miller''s death, offers new insights into their marriage, and sheds new light on how their relationship informed Miller''s subsequent great plays. After his death in 2005, many respected actors, directors and producers paid tribute to Miller, calling him ''the last great practitioner of the American stage''. Christopher Bigsby''s supremely authoritative biography does full justice to Miller''s life and art.

The second volume of the definitive biography of one of the greatest modern playwrights, Arthur Miller (1915-2005).The first volume of Christopher Bigsby''s award-winning biography of Arthur Miller was hailed as a masterpiece and the definitive account of Miller''s early years. This is the second half of Miller''s captivating story, covering his life from 1962 to his death in 2005.In 1962, Miller''s legacy was incomplete. Ahead lay eighteen plays, five films, a novella and a handful of stories. On a personal level, 1962 saw the death of his second wife, the iconographic Marilyn Monroe, and his marriage to the photographer Inge Morath who was to transform him as a writer and a person. A visit to Mauthaussen concentration camp and to the Frankfurt trials of Auschwitz-Birkenau guards moved the Holocaust to the centre of his attention and he became a more directly political person. Christopher Bigsby brilliantly and elegantly maps out the journey of Miller''s life and work. Shedding new light on Miller''s complexities, and revealing unknown facts about his public and private life, Bigsby shares new insights and perspectives crucial to an understanding of one of the world''s greatest playwrights.