ARTHUR MILLER AND THE BEAST

The reason for the magazine piece was an old, warmed-over subject: Marilyn Monroe. But Arthur Miller, whose new play "Finishing the Picture" begins previews on Tuesday in Chicago, had much more wisdom to impart about other subjects than his former wife.

This caught my attention: "History," he said, "is like some gigantic beast -- it simply wriggles its back and throws off whatever is on it." Helluva a remark ... would catch anybody's attention. Miller was ruminating about whether his writing would be remembered. Here's the full context:

You do what you can do, and the rest is up to the zeitgeist. I'll probably be forgotten completely. Most of the work in the world is forgotten completely; 99.99 percent of all artwork is forgotten. There have been so many writers who dominated a period and then slipped off. History is like some gigantic beast -- it simply wriggles its back and throws off whatever is on it.

He said something else that struck me, mediated by the magazine reporter:

In conversation, Miller [who turns 89 next month] seems fully attentive to the present and its preoccupations. ... An unreconstructed leftist, he still subscribes to The Nation. ("How can the polls be neck and neck when I don't know one Bush supporter?" he asked with apparent earnestness.)

I'd bet a lot of earnest subscribers to The Nation feel that way. I know I do. If Nov. 2 turns out to be a horror show, as looks increasingly likely -- i.e., Dummy Boy is ahead in the polls (scroll down) -- Miller will have to go sit in the corner with the rest of us.

 Let the debates begin. Maybe they will save us.