Highlighted Resource: Oxford Bibliographies
- Arthur Miller (Oxford Bibliographies)Scholarly annotated bibliographies are often an invaluable starting point for finding literature on your research topic. They can help you discover books, articles, and other resources that you might not have found otherwise, and they can help you determine which publications are most likely to be relevant for your own work.
Primary Sources
The distinction between primary, secondary and tertiary sources varies according to the discipline you are working in. A primary source in science is very different from one in history. Nonetheless, understanding the basic difference between these three types of sources and how they can be used will result in better quality production research.
Primary sources have a direct connection to the period you are researching, whether it is the world within the play, the world surrounding the play, or the period you have chosen to set your production in. These sources were either produced at the time or by people who were involved in the events. Some examples include:
- The play text itself.
- Other artistic works by the author or produced during the same era.
- Letters, diaries, memoirs, artistic manifestos by people who were involved in or observed the play.
- Reviews of the original production or subsequent productions of a play.
- Photographs from the era and other direct evidence of life and material culture.
- Newspaper articles about events.
These kinds of materials will help you gain a connection to the world of the play and its author and cultivate an original creative approach from a standpoint of deep understanding.
- Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, NYPLThe New York Public Library holds a very large photography collection, and many of these items have been digitized for online access. The Billy Rose Theatre Collection contains thousands of photos of productions and individual stage actors.
- The Crucible - Production PhotographsThese four production photographs of The Crucible are part of the Billy Rose Theatre Collection.
- Arthur Miller Papers at the Harry Ransom CenterThe Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas (Austin) holds Arthur Miller personal papers, which are available for researchers.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources interpret, analyze, and contextualize a given subject. They usually involve analysis of primary sources, such as literary texts or historical documents. They will help you understand the context that you need to interpret primary source materials, and gain insight into the existing scholarly conversation on a given play and its author.
For academic research, the best practice is to draw primarily on scholarly journals and books published by academic presses. Although they can vary in quality, they generally are peer-reviewed and thus are vetted by other experts in the field before publication. Typical secondary sources include:
- Scholarly journal articles - an in-depth exploration of a single topic or research question, usually limited in scope.
- Edited collections of essays. Similar to journal articles, but gathered to reflect diverse perspectives on a given author or topic.
- Monographs - books exploring a single topic in depth, such as a major theme across an author's body of work or an artistic movement.
- Biographies.
The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller by Call Number: PS3525 .I53 Z548 2010ISBN: 9780521768740Publication Date: 2010-04-22Arthur Miller is regarded as one of the most important playwrights of the twentieth century, and his work continues to be widely performed and studied around the world. This updated Companion includes Miller's work since the publication of the first edition in 1997 - the plays Mr Peters' Connections, Resurrection Blues, and Finishing the Picture - and key productions of his plays since his death in 2005. The chapter on Miller and the cinema has been completely revised to include new films, and demonstrates that Miller's work remains an important source for filmmakers. In addition to detailed analyses of plays including Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, Miller's work is also placed within the context of the social and political climate of the time. The volume closes with a bibliographic essay which reviews the key studies of Miller and also contains a detailed chronology of the work of this influential dramatist.
Stone Tower: The Political Theater of Arthur Miller by Call Number: PS3525 .I53 Z765 2008ISBN: 9780472116508Publication Date: 2008-10-10Jeffrey D. Mason's Stone Tower sets out to enrich---and challenge---traditional views of playwright Arthur Miller. While Miller has long been acclaimed as a social dramatist, this fresh appraisal clearly establishes him as an essentially political playwright. The book pays close attention not only to the public and private power relations in Miller's dramatic works but also in his nondramatic writings. Stone Tower begins with a detailed critique of Miller's 1956 testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and of his published essays on topics ranging from Nazism to the contested presidential election of 2000. Mason moves on to explore Miller's dramatic works, presenting All My Sons and Death of a Salesman as plays that stage the political in personal terms, then offering The Crucible and The Archbishop's Ceiling as explorations of the personal in political terms. The book provides invaluable insights on Miller's theatrical response to the Holocaust in Incident at Vichy, Broken Glass, Playing for Time, and After the Fall. It offers revealing analyses of Miller's treatment of women throughout his plays and aspects of male domination in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan. Mason concludes with Miller's late satire Resurrection Blues as evidence that the playwright's mistrust of authority and social power remained unresolved. With attention to staging issues, social history, and dramatic analysis, the book explores the impact of this canonical American dramatist, breaks new ground in Miller studies, and suggests the deeper implications and extensive engagement of the American theater of the latter twentieth century. Stone Tower opens up new territory in Miller studies by exploring the political impact of this canonical American dramatist. This book should be useful to theater scholars and students, as well as readers who want to familiarize themselves with Miller's work. Jeffrey D. Mason is Professor of Theater and Dance and Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at California State University, Sacramento. His previous books include Performing America: Cultural Nationalism in American Theatre (co-edited with J. Ellen Gainor) and Melodrama and the Myth of America, which received an honorable mention for the Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History. "An imaginative study of a major figure and one of the first really thoughtful treatments of Miller since his death . . . a significant addition to the literature." ---Barry Witham, University of Washington
Tertiary Sources
Tertiary sources offer a summary of existing knowledge on a topic. Some examples include:
- Encyclopedias (including Wikipedia)
- Historical Dictionaries
- Textbooks
These kinds of sources are valuable as a source of beginning-level, background knowledge on a topic. They may include lists of works cited or recommendations for further reading that can help you do more in-depth research and gain a deeper understanding of a topic.
For scholarly research, relying on tertiary sources such as encyclopedias for your citations is usually discouraged except in limited circumstances. This is because you are expected to develop more than a superficial-level knowledge of your research topic. You may miss out on important nuances and complexities by relying heavily on tertiary sources, and your work likely will be less interesting as a result.
Also, tertiary sources may repeat widely held assumptions that have have been questioned or disproved in more carefully researched recent scholarship.
- The Crucible (Wikipedia)The Wikipedia entry for The Crucible offers a basic overview of the themes of the play, a detailed synopsis and character list, and a history of major productions. The "Sources" and "Further Reading" sections cite some useful scholarly literature that you can use for further research. However, it only cites a limited number of recent scholarly publications on Arthur Miller and the play.