Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Mária Kurdi: "You just have to love this world." Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee.

humanizing of life as a weapon against depression depends on interpersonal influences within the body of the larger society and not only in marriage. In a way this is a political message: "Miller's plays are always political, in the wide and profound sense that Ibsen's and Shakespeare's are."

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7 Nothing is really solved, however, because there is no solution for life either, as Miller himself summarizes in connection with The Priced The Last Yankee is remarkable for its subtlety of language, masterfully handled dialogues and polished nuances of non-verbal behaviour. No remark remains unwoven into the whole, Miller unpicks all the strands "with painful honesty."

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9 Leroy's playing the banjo and Karen's tap-dancing have a special function. They are both artistic activities, serving as metaphors to articulate the wish for individual freedom and self-expression. This is underlined by their appearance with two so markedly different persons as Karen and Leroy, reminding one that the desire is independent of age, status and gender. The common function is brought home in structural terms as well: introducing the climactic last scene Leroy appears ready to play his banjo for an attentive Patricia when Karen comes in with her costume that she soon uses for her tap-dance. Characteristically of the contemporary theatre, although undeniably based on traditions, various forms of dance are employed by other playwrights as well in reference to the expression of a wide range of human desires. Let it suffice to mention Brian Friel's Dancing at Ijjghnasa (1990) and Tom Stoppard's Arcadia (1993). Showing the ever possible presence of these needs and desires under any circumstances in The Last Yankee testifies to Miller's unfailing belief in life and its rights. What he claimed in one of his theatre essays earlier, holds firmly with regard to The Last Yankee as well: "I am simply asking for a theatre in which an adult who wants to live can find plays that will heighten his awareness of what living in our time involves."

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0 In the 1

7 John Peter, America the Grave

, in: Programme Note to Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee, produced in the Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1993. ^ Quoted by Leonard Moss, op. cit, 121. 1

9 Sarah Hemming, Ibid. 2

0 Robert A. Martin, ed., The Theativ Essays of Arthur Miiler (New York: The Viking Press, 1978) 227. 74