DEATH OF A COLLABORATOR
BrothersJudd refer to Arthur Miller's demise as the DEATH OF A COLLABORATOR:: "Mr. Miller's deeply despicable art was anti-American and sought to hasten that fragmentation in service to his Communist ideals."
The BrothersJudd Review of Death of a Salesman could be called harsh: "This play is really a relic of the short, unhappy period in the 30's and 40's when American intellectuals had been seduced by Marxism. It is too doctrinaire in it's assumptions about democracy and capitalism to actually say anything of lasting value. You know how there are periodic attempts to ban the teaching of certain books in public schools? Well, I had teachers who taught both this play and The Crucible, that equally morally flaccid piece of tripe and let me just say this : as a parent, I just don't want some nitwit teacher trying to explain this Stalinist propaganda to my kids and telling them that it offers some kind of profound analysis of our society. If folks think it's important to expose kids to authors who critique capitalism and the American Dream, at least let them read The Great Gatsby, which, though wrong also, is at least great literature."
I don't know if the review is accurate - the Salesian high school I attended didn't assign the play to read and I never bothered to see it. Gatsby was assigned (and I have to agree with the BrothersJudd assesment of that) . I would have remained ignorant of the Crucible as well, which I have since learned would have been no real loss, if it were not for Daniel Day Lewis...and Winona Ryder.
The BrothersJudd Review of Death of a Salesman could be called harsh: "This play is really a relic of the short, unhappy period in the 30's and 40's when American intellectuals had been seduced by Marxism. It is too doctrinaire in it's assumptions about democracy and capitalism to actually say anything of lasting value. You know how there are periodic attempts to ban the teaching of certain books in public schools? Well, I had teachers who taught both this play and The Crucible, that equally morally flaccid piece of tripe and let me just say this : as a parent, I just don't want some nitwit teacher trying to explain this Stalinist propaganda to my kids and telling them that it offers some kind of profound analysis of our society. If folks think it's important to expose kids to authors who critique capitalism and the American Dream, at least let them read The Great Gatsby, which, though wrong also, is at least great literature."
I don't know if the review is accurate - the Salesian high school I attended didn't assign the play to read and I never bothered to see it. Gatsby was assigned (and I have to agree with the BrothersJudd assesment of that) . I would have remained ignorant of the Crucible as well, which I have since learned would have been no real loss, if it were not for Daniel Day Lewis...and Winona Ryder.
posted by BarbariansAtBay at
4:45 PM
