Vanity Fair (via Arts & Letters Daily) has an eye-opening, truly disturbing story about the late great Arthur Miller and the son with Down Syndrome that no one knew he had--because Miller made sure the child was put away, and kept away. Sure, you can be a great artist without being a very good person; in fact, that sometimes seems to be the rule, rather than the exception. Yet how could someone of Miller's insight and ethical sensibility...? Well, the story must be read all the way through, for in the end, at least to me, it is as bracing as his best dramas.

David Gibson is the director of Fordham’s Center on Religion & Culture.

Also by this author
© 2024 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.