This issue of The Arthur Miller Journal is the first to focus on a specific topic. Miller consistently dramatized how his protagonists meet at where the private and the public intersect. Throughout his canon, characters such as Joe Keller, Willy Loman, John Proctor, Eddie Carbone, Phillip Gellburg, and Lyman Felt must strive, as Miller wrote in “The Family in Modern Drama,” to “change and overcome within himself and outside himself.” For example, in The Crucible John Proctor's private sins are made public; in All My Sons Joe Keller denies his personal connection to society; Lyman Felt indulges his private passions with disregard for society in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Eddie Carbone is deemed unworthy by his community in A View From the Bridge.
Arthur Miller struggled just like his characters. He was a private man, but also an artist who led a very public life. His social...
