A View from the Bridge

The law is nature. The law is only a word for what has a right to happen. When the law is wrong it's because it's unnatural, but in this case it is natural and a river will drown you if you buck it now. Let her go. And bless her. Set among Italian-Americans on the Brooklyn waterfront, A View from the Bridge is the story of longshoreman Eddie Carbone. When his wife's cousins arrive as illegal immigrants from Italy, he is honoured to take them into his house. But when his niece begins to fall in love with one of them, Eddie grows increasingly suspicious, eventually precipitating his violation of the moral and cultural codes of his community and leading to the play's tragic finale. With its examination of the themes of sexuality, responsibility, betrayal and vengeance, A View from the Bridge is Miller at his best and a modern classic. This new edition includes an introduction by Julie Vatain-Corfdir that explores the play's production history as well as the dramatic, thematic, and academic debates that surround it; a must-have resource for any student exploring A View from the Bridge.

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was arguably the greatest American playwright of the twentieth century. Hist most famous work for the stage includes Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My Sons and A View from the Bridge. Six volumes of his plays and a volume of his theatre essays are published by Methuen Drama. Julie Vatain-Corfdir (volume editor) is Lecturer at the Sorbonne University, Paris. A specialist in English-speaking theatre and translation, she is the author of Translate the Living Letter: English duets on the French Scene (2012). Her other publications include articles on English and American theatre, including the work of Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Tom Stoppard, Thornton Wilder, Tina Howe and Sarah Ruhl), as well as several contributions on the history and practice of theatrical translation. She also translates for the stage. Susan C. W. Abbotson (series editor) is Professor of Dramatic Literature at Rhode Island College, USA.

Chronology Introduction Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts Genre and Themes Play as Performance Production History Academic Debate Behind the scenes -Interview with Director Ivo van Hove on The Young Vic Production of A View from the Bridge Further Study A View from the Bridge Notes