Death of a Salesman
“I realised that selling is the greatest career a man could want.”
Willy Loman
in "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller (died 11 Feb 2005)
Arthur Miller, whom the New York Times describes as "one of the great American playwrights whose work exposed the flaws in the fabric of the American dream," died yesterday in his home in Connecticut.
Miller wrote the classic "Death of a Salesman" in just six weeks in a shed in Connecticut. The play opened on Broadway in 1949, and that year won the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and six Tony Awards, including best play and best author for Miller, who was just 33 at the time. Tony-winning revivals premiered on Broadway in 1984 and 1999. The first production ran for over 700 performances.
"Death of a Salesman" has been translated into 29 languages and sold more than 11 million copies. Critics say it is likely to become one of only a few 20th century American plays to survive the 20th century, according to the Washington Post.
Dealing with both desperation and paternal responsibility, "Death of a Salesman" focused on a failed businessman as he tries to remember and reconstruct his life. Eventually killing himself to leave his son insurance money, the salesman seems a tragic character out of Shakespeare or Dostoevsky. Within a short while, it had been translated into over a dozen languages and had made its author a millionaire.
Miller’s astonishingly rich output includes “All My Sons” and “The Crucible”, but “Salesman” is his masterpiece.
If selling is your life, read the play or attend a perfomance if you get the opportunity. Lessons to be learned.
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Health & Blessings.
Maitiu
http://www.greatexpectationscoaching.com