Issues of Criticism and Authorship in Arthur Miller's All My Sons : A Bakhtinian Reading

Abstract

All my Sons may not be Miller's most known work today, but it is the play that brought him recognition as a playwright. Since its first production, in 1947, critics have assessed the play's content and characters through Arthur Miller's words and biography. This kind of approach elevated Miller to the status of Author-God, consequently transforming the play into a monologic work. Mikhail Bakhtin, however, reconsiders the notion of authorship, proposing a model of dialogic author and heteroglossic text. In view of these issues, this thesis analyzes All My Sons through the lens of Bakhtin's theory, especially his argument regarding authorship and the philosophy of the act.