Sunday, February 13, 2005
David Mamet Even Writes a Good Editorial/On Arthur Miller
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Attention Must Be Paid: "We are freed, at the end of these two dramas [The Crucible and The Death of a Salesman], not because the playwright has arrived at a solution, but because he has reconciled us to the notion that there is no solution - that it is the human lot to try and fail, and that no one is immune from self-deception. We have, through following the course of the drama, laid aside, for two hours, the delusion that we are powerful and wise, and we leave the theater better for the rest."
The Death of a Salesman is one of my favorite plays. As Mamet opens the editorial, we too, all know these characters in our own lives. It felt real for all of us. Admittedly, I enjoy the delusion of seeing myself as powerful and wise, but it is the power of a well-written drama that it could take me down a peg, and force me to enjoy it. It is the power of the creatives and the intellectuals that I am drawn to, and clearly this man had an equal amount of both, superlative to most.
The Death of a Salesman is one of my favorite plays. As Mamet opens the editorial, we too, all know these characters in our own lives. It felt real for all of us. Admittedly, I enjoy the delusion of seeing myself as powerful and wise, but it is the power of a well-written drama that it could take me down a peg, and force me to enjoy it. It is the power of the creatives and the intellectuals that I am drawn to, and clearly this man had an equal amount of both, superlative to most.
