ARTHUR MILLER—NOT A PLAYWRIGHT, BUT A MEMOIR WRITER?
ARTHUR MILLER—NOT A PLAYWRIGHT, BUT A MEMOIR WRITER? Hilton Als had a review in the New Yorker for October 27 of the current revival of ALL MY SONS which praises Arthur Miller’s autobiography TIMEBENDS. Als goes so far as to reject all of Miller’s plays, concluding his review with the judgment that: “What a pity that Miller had to write so many plays—a form that did not come naturally to him—in order to inspire our interest in his work in the one genre at which he excelled: the memoir.” I have checked out TIMEBENDS, and it is excellent. It also, I think, provides support for my view that Miller is very much misunderstood and underrated as a playwright.