Description
Book Synopsis
Much like Mr. Miller, Quentin is a witness to alarming public and personal catastrophes: the stock market crash, the Holocaust, the McCarthy witchhunts and the self-destruction of a show business idol to whom he is married.
' NEW YORK TIMESHaunted by past romantic failures, Quentin, a New York City Jewish intellectual, retreats into his mind as he debates marrying for a third time: as he revisits past loves and losses, his mind and memory fragments under philosophical questions; are our failures really just our own? Or is possible to hide away from the mistakes of the past?One of Miller's most personal plays,
After the Fall takes place almost entirely inside the mind of the play''s protagonist, who is often read as a stand-in for the playwright himself. Touching on themes of the Holocaust, McCarthyism and inherited sin, the play is one of the most discussed within Miller's canon.This Methuen Drama Student Edition is edited by Ramón Espejo-Romero, with
Trade Review
Because
After the Fall takes place entirely in Quentin’s mind, all of us are privy to his abject self-pity, cynicism and self-reproach. By extension - because he is the mythic Everyman - we, too, are guilty. We’ve all been kicked out of Eden. We’re all branded. But like every biblical hero who harbors the dream of salvation, Quentin is not without hope, even in the midst of the Red Scare. He wants to smash the false idols within himself. * LA Times *
Table of Contents
CHRONOLOGY COMMENTARY Historical, social and cultural contexts Genre and themes Play as performance Production history Academic debate Behind the scenes Further study
PLAY TEXT NOTES
