ABSTRACT
The author of the Wesker Trilogy, a collection that realised the richness to be found in the Jewish family experience. Arnold's expansive writing table faced a wall, but by looking to his left, he could see out the window. He explained that he could never find a desk large enough to suit him, so he preferred to work at this table, with his card files at its end. Off to one side, he could see a small phonograph and a pile of records, virtually all of them, later discovered, recordings of classical composers. Books stacked on the floor and papers strewn everywhere. Arnold began to explore his idea for The Merchant; He would invite the students from his Contemporary Drama course back to his house, where they would spend hours talking about the reading list and ways of reconceiving Shakespeare's plays. The initial idea for The Merchant had come to him in England, but a number of conceptual problems remained.
