It's a familiar cycle. Renowned man of letters dies. Biographer plots new book. Discovery of previously unknown manuscript is leaked. Members of the press whip up hype. Sales of biography increased.
And so it goes with one of the towering figures of 20th century drama, Arthur Miller. In November, Weidenfeld 7 Nicolson will publish a new book on the playwright, Arthur Miller: The Definitive Biography, by Professor Christopher Bigsby, a scholar and novelist of some repute and the founder of the Arthur Miller Centre for American Studies at the University of East Anglia. Bigsby has now revealed that, among the boxes of material made available to him by Miller before his death in 2005, are manuscripts for two unpublished novels as well as five short stories, dating from between 1938 and the 1950s. These are said to include a prototype version of his most noted play, Death of a Salesman, entitled Schleifer, Albert, 49, which is written in a distinctive "stream of consciousness" style. Other stories include an unfinished early attack on the racism of American society and work of a sexual nature, possibly considered too risqué to be published at the time they were written.
So, there's the hype. Sales of the biography will no doubt be extremely healthy. Let's just hope the cycle doesn't end as it too often does: with the anti-climax that the importance of some vague scribblings have been exaggerated.
