􀂃 American Trends

In the United States, Anderson, Hellman, Odets, and Wilder continued to

produce important works following World War II, but the most praised

older dramatist was O'Neill. His later works, most notably Long Day's

Journey into Night (produced 1956), were brought to the stage at last in the

late 1950s. But the dominant dramatists of the postwar years were

Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. Miller pursued the Ibsenian

tradition of social drama in his most famous play, The Death of a

Salesman (1949), and enriched it with some touches of expressionism and

symbolism by conveying parts of the story through the main character’s

memories. Williams also worked generally in the mode of realism, but in a

somewhat more poetic style and stressing individual psychology more than

social concerns, as can be seen in his first two major works, The Glass

Menagerie (1944) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). William Inge in

such works as Picnic (1953) and Robert Anderson in Tea and Sympathy

(1953) echoed the themes and approach of Williams and Miller.

The postwar years also saw the American musical become a major force.

The dominant figures were composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar