- Hardcover: 614 pages
- Publisher: Grove Pr; 1st Edition edition (November 1989)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0802100155
- ISBN-13: 978-0802100153
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.7 x 4.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 748 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #391,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
America's most famous living playwright (All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, Incident at Vichy, etc.) here does with his life story what nature does with rock strata, folding it back on itself to achieve the effects of many-layered richness and simultaneity that he aims for in his plays. It's a life as remarkable for its commitment as its achievement. Growing up on the edge of Harlem in the '20s and '30s, the son of a successful but semiliterate coat manufacturer, Miller discovered both his vocation and his leftist political convictions during the Depression and the rise of fascism. He achieved a moral victory against McCarthyism in the '50s; and it was under his presidency that PEN went from an ineffectual literary club to a real force for international freedom of expression. While covering these events, Miller traces the genesis of his plays in his life experience, provides vivid portraits of a host of notables in the worlds of theater, cinema and politics, including Elia Kazan, Lee and Paula Strasberg, John Huston, Clark Gable, Sir Laurence Olivier, John F. Kennedy and Mikhail Gorbachev, and a detailed, deeply touching one of his second wife, Marilyn Monroe, who finally slipped from his reach. Tough, compassionate, bristling with intelligence and profound reflections on the dramas of life and stage, this is one of the memorable autobiographies of our time. Photos. BOMC selection.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Renowned playwright Miller has at last written his autobiography in this dense, thoughtful, beautifully written book. With sharp characterizations and vivid imagery, Miller brings his Brooklyn childhood to life. His early struggles and successes in the theater are all here, as well as his skirmishes with the House Un-American Activities Committee and, of course, his much-publicized marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Miller delves deep inside his relationship with Monroe to analyze and intellectualize the problems of their marriage. He sees her as the quintessential orphan, whom no amount of reassurance could make secure. A fascinating, important book for most libraries. Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
a useable past,
By
This review is from: Timebends A Life (Mass Market Paperback)
In an interview conducted before he wrote this book, Miller said, "I think memoirs, autobiography...can help to translate chaos into something that is a useable past. Give an image where there was only a blur." He suggests the kind of autobiography he would be interested in writing would be more about the time he was living rather than his life, so a reader would "come away from it somehow a little heavier than he went into it." In all of this, TIMEBENDS succeeds wonderfully. I learned a great deal more about the textures, realities and signficance of the 1930s, 40s and 50s through his observations and images than through any linear professional histories. A bonus for those who enjoy seeing and reading Miller's plays is his deliberate selection of significant events and people in his life that show up in the plays in one way or another. And he does have great stories and observations about famous people--Olivier, Clark Gable, etc.-- that are the more conventional pleasures of show biz autobios. Even if he wasn't among the most important American dramatists of our time--perhaps the most important--this book would be a significant literary accomplishment. Miller is a careful writer, so readers perhaps unused to tact and understatement in memoirs are advised to look beyond their expectations to what he actually says. Yet his chapters on Marilyn Monroe were vivid and gave me more of an impression of her as a person than anything else I've read. Miller's voice brings all of this varied material together, and so the reader might approach this book as if listening to a great storyteller. This is a book full of heart, humor, wisdom and perspectives not found elsewhere. It is a treasure and a gift.
3.0 out of 5 stars
jumpy and tiresome,
By
This review is from: Timebends A Life (Mass Market Paperback)
After having read 'Timebends,' I can only say that I am grateful that Miller decided on drama rather than the novel as a form of expression. While this autobiography does give us glimpses into a very interesting life, the author, without warning, often abandons his discussion and jumps into some other person he has bumped into along the way. Meanwhile, his family, his wives and children remain shadowy figures at best. At any given point it is anyone's guess to whom Miller is married. I would gladly have exchanged much of the anecdotal material, some of which seems to drag on endlessley, for the more important influences in his life, specifically the women. Only Marilyn Monroe gets the thorough treatment, although I suspect strongly that the mother and the wives were more than simply 'props' in this colorful career. Only toward the end does the mother appear more sharply defined but, sadly, it is at the moment of her passing. I found a great deal of trivial detail which I would have exchanged gladly for insights about the impact of having a family and familial responsibilities while trying to be a writer. The treatment of his marriage to Monroe and his insights into her personality are very worthwhile, as are the discussions of his plays, particularly "Salesman." However, the reader could easily have been spared much of the tedious detail that dominates much of this great tome.
3.0 out of 5 stars
jumpy and tiresome,
By
This review is from: Timebends A Life (Mass Market Paperback)
After having read 'Timebends,' I can only say that I am grateful that Miller decided on drama rather than the novel as a form of expression. While this autobiography does give us glimpses into a very interesting life, the author, without warning, often abandons his discussion and jumps into some other person he has bumped into along the way. Meanwhile, his family, his wives and children remain shadowy figures at best. At any given point in the book it is anyone's guess to whom Miller is married. I would gladly have exchanged much of the anecdotal material, some of which seems to drag on endlessley, for the more important influences in his life, specifically the women. Only Marilyn Monroe gets the thorough treatment, although I suspect strongly that the mother and the wives were more than simply 'props' in this colorful career. Only toward the end does the mother appear more sharply defined but, sadly, it is at the moment of her passing. I found a great deal of trivial detail which I would have exchanged gladly for insights about the impact of having a family and familial responsibilities while trying to be a writer. The treatment of his marriage to Monroe and his insights into her personality are very worthwhile, as are the discussions of his plays, particularly "Salesman." However, the reader could easily have been spared much of the tedious detail that dominates much of this great tome.
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