Product Description
The acclaimed classic in a new edition, now with an insightful new introduction, the author's original foreword, and the one-act play, The Enemy: Time, on which Sweet Bird of Youth was based.

Sometime actor and full-time male hustler Chance Wayne returns to the Gulf Coast town of St. Cloud in an attempt to retrieve his lost innocence by reuniting with his high school girlfriend, Heavenly Finley. But Chance arrives there with his current employer, the drug-addicted, over-the- hill movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, who uses Chance, teaches him to use others, and doesn't intend to let him go. Chance learns that when he left St. Cloud years before, he left Heavenly with a crippling venereal disease. Heavenly's brother and her father—the powerful Boss Finley, a politician who has been responsible for local lynchings—have marked Chance as "a criminal degenerate" and plan to castrate him. Williams knew how to tell a good tale, and this gritty and wrenching play also reveals the dark side of the American dreams of youth and fame by implicating small town injustice, systemic racism, and the depth of suffering that results from personal and public corruption. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Fickle Bird Of Youth
The first couple of paragraphs here have been used as introduction to other plays written by Tennessee Williams and reviewed in this space. This review applies to both the stage play and the film versions with differences noted as part of the review

Perhaps, as is the case with this reviewer, if you have come to the works of the excellent American playwright Tennessee Williams through adaptations of his plays to commercially distributed film you too will have missed some of the more controversial and intriguing aspects of his plays that had placed him at that time along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller as America's finest serious playwrights.Although some of the films have their own charms I want to address the written plays in this entry first (along with, when appropriate, commentary about Williams' extensive and detailed directing instructions).

That said, there are certain limitations for a political commentator like this reviewer on the works of Williams. Although his plays, at least his best and most well-known ones, take place in the steamy South or its environs, there is virtually no acknowledgement of the race question that dominated Southern life during the period of the plays; and, for that matter was beginning to dominate national life. Thus, although it is possible to pay homage to his work on its artistic merits, I am very, very tentative about giving fulsome praise to that work on its political merits. With that proviso Williams nevertheless has created a very modern stage on which to address social questions at the personal level like homosexuality, incest and the dysfunctional family that only began to get addressed widely well after his ground-breaking work hit the stage.

"Sweet Bird Of Youth" is a case in point. Not for the first time, a seemingly 1950's style All- American boy Chance who has left his hometown, his home town girl and his roots behind to drift in that endless spiral toward fame- Hollywood and the movies, naturally- comes back to claim what is his by right. On this little hometown reunion Chance is in the service of one aging and fretful actress who has her own issues with that elusive `bird of youth'. In his return to town it appears that Chance has stirred up a hornet's nest with the local political establishment in the person of one red-neck preacher turned politician in order to better do "god's work", old Tom Findley. The object of this dispute is one Heavenly Findley, old Ton's daughter and Chance's left behind paramour who is now the subject of some scandal (due to the amorphously stated need for female-related medical treatment due to Chance's irresponsibility). Along the way we get to see how political power is distributed in a small Southern town as well as the inevitable tempting of the fates by Chance in order to win the `brass ring' before it is too late (apparently somewhere over thirty, by my reckoning). At play's end though, where he is between a rock and a hard place, Chance may not get the chance to be Chance at thirty. Oh, that fickle bird of youth. Still, Chance, go for it.

Ahh Youth, Wasted and Wondered On....
I'd like to see this play. Why? Because there is an incredible amount of angst, self-pity, self-agrandizment, posturing, emoting, and innocent awe. It is also short, surprisingly too.
Chance is a hyper-sexual ne'r' do'well whose coupling with Princess, a hyper-vain Hollywood Queen suffering from lose of face after an amazingly bad "come-back" film, lands them in Saint Cloud, Chance's old stomping grounds, and perhaps some sort of symbolic nowhere town, dead to the world and quite possibly changeless. His appearence is bad news, as he generally is bad news. Princess, who is significantly older is so wrapped in her vanity and stardom, or there-lack-of, has latched onto Chance, because they are similar and desperate for what each other has.
Sweet Bird of Youth is not a nice play. These are people who are not likeable, nor funny, and their desperation almost defines them. I say almost, because they are also passionate and hopeful, even in round about ways. They are symbols of Time's heavy hand, extravegance, unfortunate fame, addicts, wayward souls.
Sweet Bird of Youth belongs in the second tier of Williams' plays. After Streetcar, Cat, Glass, and with The Rose Tattoo, Suddenly, Last Summer, and Orpheus Descending. Full of loud, troubled people on point of hysteria, whose sexual, or emotional hunger is suicidal and beyond reason. But lacking in broad connection to the world, in familial dynamics and struggle. In that way I recommend Sweet Bird of Youth for the Williams' lover or admirer, not someone who wants to know his best work.

Like the rest of Williams' writings- absolutely brilliant
Don't see the movie instead of reading the play, in fact, don't see the movie at all, because it is TERRIBLE. It changes the ending completely, and lacks the overall spirit of the play. With "Sweet Bird of Youth," Williams has created something touching and brilliant. If you like Williams' other plays, you will like this, but if not, you won't. A wonderful dramatic landmark. Amazing. ... Read more

Product Description
These two plays take place in the South and borrow heavily from Williams's life -- they are marked by a struggle, often between family members or loved ones. His plays are literary and commercial successes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Glass Menagerie was a well written play.
Some people did not think much of the play, but I thought it was an excellent play.The charecter laura in the play is a crippled girl who feels that she is unable to do anything because she is crippled.Laurakeeps a glass menagerie and is very attached to it because she feels theyare like her, fragile and transparent.One of the glass charectersresembles her because it is different from all the other animals.Tom, whois Laura's brother wants to leave his house and do something adventurouswith his life, but can't until his sister finds a suitible match.Amandais their mother, who feels self-pitybecause her husband left her and shehas to take care of two children.She keeps reminding Laura of how shealways had so many gentelmen callers and Laura has none. This play endedsadly but made a good point.

Both of these books are terrible.
These two books were a waist of my time and money.I highly recommend that you not buy these.I did not like them because it was about nothing.I read and read (waisting time and time) trying to find something."Did I?," you ask....NO!these are horrible books.Thank you. ... Read more

Product Description
A complete and definitive edition of the Tennessee Williams's verse, with a CD of the author reading some of his poems in his unmistakable Mississippi drawl.

Few writers achieve success in more than one genre, and yet if Tennessee Williams had never written a single play he would still be known as a distinguished poet. The excitement, compassion, lyricism, and humor that epitomize his writing for the theater are all present in his poetry. It was as a young poet that Williams first came to the attention of New Directions' founder James Laughlin who initially presented some of Williams' verse in the New Directions anthology Five Young American Poets 1944 (before he had any reputation as a playwright), and later published the individual volumes of Williams's poetry, In the Winter of Cities (1956, revised in 1964) and Androgyne, Mon Amour (1977). In this definitive edition, all of the playwright's collected and uncollected published poems (along with substantial variants), including poems from the plays, have been assembled, accompanied by explanatory notes and an Introduction by Tennessee Williams scholars David Roessel and Nicholas Moschovakis.

The CD included with this edition features Tennessee Williams reading, in his delightful and mesmerizing Mississippi voice, several of the whimsical folk poems he called his "Blue Mountain Ballads,"poems dedicated to Carson McCullers and to his longtime companion Frank Merlo, as well as his long early poem, "The Summer Belvedere." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

If you love Williams you will love this
I am very familiar with his poetry but there are some new ones that I haven't read...I staged his poetry and it was like magic...If you love Williams you will love this read and hearing him also....Jack Heller ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

American Blues
Contains the plays:

Moony's Kid Don't Cry, for 1 male, 1 female and 1 child (not a speaking part).
The Dark Room, for 2 females and 1 male child.
The Case of the Crushed Petunias: A Lyrical Fantasy, for 2 males 2 females.
The Long Stay Cut Short, or, The Unsatisfactory Supper, for 1 male and 2 females.
Ten Blocks on the Camino Real: A Fantasy, for 13 men, 3 women and 10 dancers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Excellent play, Excellent Bonus Features!
I bought this New Directions Paperbook because I'd seen John Huston's masterful film adaptation many times and wondered how it might differ from the original.I think this is one of those rare occasions when the original and the film are equally great.What really moves me to write my first Amazon review, though, is not only Williams' masterpiece, but also the generous features that New Directions adds to it:a list of Williams' oeuvre, a chronology of his life, the Williams short-story that inspired his play, and three superb articles.The first is a beautiful and affectionate memoir by prize-winning playwright Doug Wright. Another is by Williams himself, a memoir about how he came to write "Iguana". Another - the best - is a keenly insightful essay by Kenneth Holditch about "Iguana" - very comprehensive about its theology and characters.All this for 14.95??? What a bargain! THANKS, New Directions!

Disaster
The copy of Night of the Iguana was not as advertised. It had no dust jacket, and there were pencil markings in the text. In addition, it was badly molded and smelled atrocious. I would never buy from that seller again.

Kenneth Holditch

Then why do you read it?
The review under mine is ridiculous.This person obviously knows nothing about Tennessee Williams.And incidentally, I have no interest in his email address which he egomaniacally implies one should look for.The characters in this play are not hysterical (except Shannon once when he goes off the deep end, and that's not hysteria come to think of it).This is a beautiful, moving, perceptive and exceptional play.I won't give away the plot in case anyone wants to read it.Williams wrote lots of good and some great plays.This is a great one.I came upon this review (and the one under it which is just inaccurate, the reviewer apparently has a hard time grasping what he reads, if he read it) because I just saw the movie of this play and want to reread it again.I've read it many times, and I love it.I think (though I'm not sure) that Bette Davis played Maxine in the original production, and unlike Ava Gardner's (who was perfect in the part), her "Ha!" was (as is described in the stage directions) an explosion, and occurred frequently.One scene I will give away.Shannon tells Hannah about a place where the animals go to deficate.The place is so poor and the people are so hungry, that the people go through the dung looking for and eating bits of undigested food.Hannah goes behind a tree and throws up.That was left out of the movie.This is a very kind and gentle play.And emotionally (all the Williams' plays I've read are, he used to be a hero of mine, I've outgrown him, except for this gem) and intellectually (not so customary) deep.(That word "deep" will I hope turn you on, not off.)Oh.My email address isn't listed.

Just The Usual Hysterical, Needy, Pathetic Losers Who "Can't Make It Through The Dark Night!!!"
In this book we once again have the obligatoryemotionally tortured characters which are repeated in Tennessee William's works ad infinitum and ad nauseum. In this book the reader is introduced to Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon who seeks refuge in a run down Mexican Hotel.From there on we have the usual hysteria which was a signature of Mr. William's works. It seems that all of his plays and books were about desperate, needy , pathetic people who couldn't "make it through the dark night.My favourite line in this book is "Oh God can we please stop now?" which is exactly what I suggest Mr. Williams should have done with his typewriter.My new Email address is now available although you might have to hunt for a couple of hours on the Internet to find it!!!

May the Beast be Released.
The best play of Tennessee's late period, The Night of the Iguana features one of his best characters, in the shape of Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, a self-hating, sexually angst ridden, anti-reverend, for whom life is now breaking down, again.

Into the hidden Mexican hotel run by the America ex-pat Maxine comes Shannon, again to reconcile his life, where he meets the vagabond painter Hannah and her 97-years-young poet grandfather.

Shannon has been leading tours throughout the world over the years since his explosion at the pulpit propelled him out of the church's favor, and now he has abandoned a busload of Texas women who are fed up with his philandering and his off-the-beaten-path tactics.

All of the drama and trauma of classic Tennessee Williams is here. The tortured Reverend, at odds with God in such a cruel world. A man whose sexuality has been more detrimental than pleasurable. As well, there is Maxine, a middle aged widower, stuck or something like it in Mexico, running a cheap, rough and tumble hotel, far away from the nonsense of cities and America. Then, the spirited Hannah, who takes to Shannon as he to her, in a feeling out of hard hearts, and lonelinesses.

Better than most of his plays, The Night of the Iguana succeeds in it's treatment of lost souls, and the meeting of two people destined for loneliness and disappointment. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a new edition with an afterward by Michael Ritchie dealing with the life and murder of Tennessee Williams ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Biography About A Highly Overrated Alcoholic, Barbituate Swallowing Drug Addict!!
This book was written by Dakin Williams who was the brother of Tennesee Williams. Dakin describes his brother's early attempts at trying to achieve Literary Fame , his troubled relationship with his mother and his inner demons which made him succumb to the temption of alcohol and drugs. Dakin is of the belief that his brother was murdered. I gues this is to be expected when you have trouble opening up the plastic top of a bottle of Seconal which leadsto a most unique departure from this "Mortal Coil" I give this book 5 stars because no doubt every Literary Critic who loves plays about hysterical, nuerotic, emotionally disturbedand needy characters will love this offfering.

A Lifelong Contest Between Demons and Angels
If you want to understand the making of great literature, I recommend reading this biography of Tennessee Williams. Written by the playwright's brother Dakin and best selling author Shepherd Mead, this book provides an unparalleled look at the details of Williams' personal and professional life -- and the broad context in which he lived it. It makes the case that the creation of literary art is immeasurably complex, incalculably random, and probably painful. A successful author must do infinitely more than "Pass Go and Collect $200".

In this biography we learn of Williams' unbelievable drive to express himself through the written word. With an inborn skill and restless energy, he strove to express his innermost feelings, and he did so with an honesty that stripped naked his tortured soul.

To Williams, life was a contest between the demons and angels that dwell within us all. It was a competition between the noblest human aspirations and the undisciplined indulgence of the basest human urges. But more than this, Williams drew his material from acute yet sympathetic observations of the entire human race, from the mighty to the dregs of society. To this, Williams added a creative use of symbols more powerful in eliciting emotions and comprehension than a mere reconstruction of graphic reality.

Lest one think all of this came easily for Williams, his daily routine usually began with writing at the crack of dawn, fueled by strong black coffee, and proceeded uninterrupted until lunch time. Ideas for plays often began as poems, evolved through one-act plays, and then grew into full fledged films and dramas -- a process that could span even decades and then conclude with new lines written during rehearsal.

One final note: Williams' success also depended on the fortunate and unfortunate happenings of life, happenings beyond a grand plan -- chance meetings with producers, directors, actors and actresses who were perfectly suited -- or incompetent -- for projecting the messages Williams committed to paper. All of us depend at some point on "the kindness of strangers."

If you want to know more about these things, you should read this truly "intimate biography" of Tennessee Williams, one of the world's greatest and most honored dramatists, from his birth in Mississippi as the son of a traveling salesman for a men's clothing company, to the unnatural end of his life in a New York City luxury apartment. ... Read more

Product Description
Theatre of Tennessee Williams Vol. 2. The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, and Camino Real. ... Read more

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In The Late Plays of Tennessee Williams, Prosser reassesses the playwright's later works. Determined to liberate them from the literary purgatory to which they had been condemned by the critics, Prosser examines the works Williams produced from the early 1960s until the playwright's death in 1983. Throughout the book, Prosser contends that Williams' talent was not destroyed, but rather went on in different directions to produce extraordinary, if misunderstood, works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Lost Work from a Stellar Williams Scholar and Critic

I was one of Bill's directing students at Brooklyn College.I have not yet had a chance to read Bill's book, but I am so, so glad to see that it finally made it into print.

I discussed Williams' works with Bill many, many times, both in seminar and individually.I well remember his frustration over being blocked by Maria St. Just regarding the publishing rights.Since I was in both the playwriting and directing programs at Brooklyn, I brought a dual approach to discussing Williams with Bill.It was obvious what a tremendous scholar of Williams he was, and I didn't miss the chance to delve into Tennessee's plays deeply while I was studying with Bill.

Let me be clear: any serious student of Williams should read Bill's book.Even sight unseen I'm sure that it offers more insight and adroit analysis of Tennesee's works than Spoto's biography (which I read and discussed with Bill while he was writing his book).I will come back and post a more informed review when I have read the book (fifty bucks is a little steep for any stage scribbler) but for now I want give his book a bump so that it starts getting the recognition it deserves.

Another "Pig-in-a-Poke"
I'm a big Williams fan, but you folks at Amazon really need to site what plays are in your anthologies. They should all be "Look Inside" or at least offered in the product description. Otherwise it's a $50 guess.
-DW ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Moise and the World of Reason.
This is the last full length novel TennesseeWilliams completed before his tragic death in 1983.
It is a major work of fiction: erotic,sensual, comic and totally convincing.

No suspense, just good art
By the time he wrote this novel, Tennessee Williams had long since earned the right to describe a condition instead of narrating a page-turner. Here, you turn the pages because a serious artist is spellbinding even in simplicity, not because you are being manipulated by some Hollywood hack. Williams didn't need to write about serial killers. He didn't need silly literary hooks or meretricious pyrotechnics. He was a poet and brought a poet's skill to his book. If you want to see what a literary novel can be, I recommend this without reservation. It might make you want to give up on the serial killer books and start reading something decent for a change. ... Read more

Product Description
"I yearned for a bad influence and boy, was Tennessee one in the best sense of the word: joyous, alarming, sexually confusing and dangerously funny."—John Waters“I cannot write any sort of story,” said Tennessee [to Gore Vidal] “unless there is at least one character in it for whom I have physical desire.” These transgressive Tales of Desire, including “One Arm,” “Desire and the Black Masseur,” “Hard Candy,” and “The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen,” show the iconic playwright at his outrageous best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A celebration of talent and craftsmanhip
In Tales of Desire Tennessee Williams chooses to tell erotic stories inspired by sordid, over the board, rather than borderline characters.He describes people the average individual would prefer to ignore or to dismiss as unsavoury and doomed characters. The paragraph introducing each story and its main character places the reader squarely in the atmosphere and the circumstances.Tales of Desire is beautifully and impeccably written: it reads as a celebration of talent and craftsmanship.

Homoerotic Williams
Williams, Tennessee. "Tales of Desire", New Directions Pearls, 2010.

Homoerotic Williams

Amos Lassen


I have always been a very big fan of Tennessee Williams and this is probably because of two reasons--I was raised in New Orleans and I knew the man. Many consider him to be one of the greatest playwrights we have had if not the greatest and his output was wonderful. But Williams wrote more than plays and often the other genres are overlooked. Now New Directions Pearls has taken five of his short stories and published them in the collection "Tales of Desire". The book includes a foreword by Gore Vidal who lets us know that Williams once told him that he had to feel physical desire for one of the characters in his stories in order to be able to write them and you certainly feel that desire here in these five stories that are very funny in an ironic way and filled with sexual references. Included are "Desire and the Black Masseur', "One Arm", "The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen", "Hard Candy" and "The Mysteries of Joy Rio". If you have never read Williams's short stories, this is a great place to begin. You will find that same darkness that hovers over his plays and you will be transported to another world for the time you read.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beware of misleading title
Just a note to warn anyone who is thinking about getting this book.It is not his later plays.It's a book of essays.So, if you like criticism, it's great.But if you really want to read Tn. Wms. later plays, don't get it. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a story of the making of a friendship and a film. In the process, there emerges a dynamic, vibrant portrait of the man who is widely recognized as America's greatest playwright. When Harry Rasky, one of the most prolific and innovative documentary filmmakers, persuaded Tennessee Williams to become a subject of a film, Rasky stated in the opening narrative, "In a sense this is a memory play about Tennessee Williams. What he once called the past, the present and the perhaps." Rasky recognized that he would have to find where William's head was. This is the story of how he went about doing just that, replete with all the laughter and lamentations that were experienced by them both in the process. ... Read more

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Tennessee Williams, one of America’s most beloved playwrights, reads from his own work in an extraordinary and historic recording from the very earliest of the Caedmon archive.

Customer Reviews (1)

Essential Tennessee Williams CD
It is wonderful to have this collection reissues on a cd, with Tennessee Williams reading his own work in that wonderful Mississippi voice of his. ... Read more

Product Description
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of the seething passions that beset a wealthy Southern family whose lives are stripped of pretense in a shattering moment of revelation. ... Read more

Product Description
Published as a trade paperback for the first time, with a new Introduction by the acclaimed playwright John Patrick Shanley (Doubt) and the one-act on which The Rose Tattoo was based.

The Rose Tattoo is larger than life—a fable, a Greek tragedy, a comedy, a melodrama—it is a love letter from Tennessee Williams to anyone who has ever been in love or ever will be. Professional widow and dressmaker Serafina delle Rosa has withdrawn from the world, locking away her heart and her sixteen-year-old daughter Rosa. Then one day a man with the sexy body of her late Sicilian husband and the face of a village idiot, Mangiacavallo (Italian for "eat a horse"), stumbles into her life and clumsily unlocks Serafina's fiery anger, sense of betrayal, pride, wit, passion, and eventually her capacious love.

The original production of The Rose Tattoo won Tony Awards for best play and for the stars, Eli Wallach and Maureen Stapleton. Anna Magnani received the Academy Award as Best Actress for the 1955 film version.

This edition of The Rose Tattoo has an Introduction by playwright John Patrick Shanley, the author's original Foreword, the one-act The Dog Enchanted by the Divine View that was the germ for the play, and an essay by noted Tennessee Williams scholar Jack Barbera. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Give this a second reading!
Rose Tattoo is a lengthy play, full of vibrant characters, adventuresome, physical action, interesting storyline and definitive settings. In addition, there are several themes, depression, withdrawal, lunacy and filled with symbols, the tattoo, the silk, the clock, bananas, etc.The play is perfect for the stage.Like any Tennessee Williams play, you need to read it again, in order to grasp the entire Williams style, to find the themes and symbols that further connect one to the story and characteristics. In 1952, the stage play earned a Tony Award.

Much has been written aboutTennessee Williams' women known as the "mad heroine"with Blanche Dubois, A Streetcar Named Desire Laura Wingfield, Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) etc.,and clearly, Sarafina delle Rose, a voluptuous Italian widow who seeks to find comfort again.

Williams is very detail oriented in his character descriptions and stage settings.
The play takes place in the South, near New Orleans.The time is the present, (early 50s) that spans from one evening and quickly moves to 3 years later.

As the story opens, Sarafina Delle Rose is waiting for her husband, Rosario to arrive from his job.We don't get to meet him, but we learn through characterization was that he was handsome, thick black hair, and made plenty of money driving a banana truck, hauling "something" underneath the bananas.But Rosario was murdered, burned in the truck.Sarafina is in denial about her beloved Rosario, she speaks well of him.Through the many other characters, we find out more unpleasant news about Rosario.

It is in the next three years we learn that lunacy and absurdity have defined Sarafina's behavior, her strange idiosyncrasies, her withdrawal, her stubbornness, and, wanting the same for her now 15 year old daughter Rosa.

Then, she meets a younger man, Alvaro.Compare it with the film version, The Rose Tattoo, which is usually never as good as the original play ....Rizzo

Once Famous But Now Among The Lesser Known Titles By Williams
Opening on Broadway in 1951, THE ROSE TATTOO was a major success for playwright Tennessee Williams, winning Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Scenic Design; it was subsequently filmed in 1955 and again proved a major success, receiving Academy Awards for Best Actress, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography--as well as five other nominations, including Best Picture.Even so, TATTOO is no longer considered among William's "essential" works, and although it has been revived now and then over the years the large cast and complex set makes stage productions few and far between.

The story is set in an unspecified town along the Mississippi gulf coast (the characters reference Pass Christian and Biloxi as nearby), the play centers on Serafina Delle Rose, a passionate Sicilian woman, who lives with her husband in an Italian enclave; while her husband drives a truck, she works as a seamstress, and the two have a beautiful daughter named Rosa.But within a few minutes of the play's beginning, Serafina's husband is dead and she, pregnant, miscarries.She begins a downward spiral into a mixture of depression, religious hysteria, and superstition that threatens Rosa's happiness--and ultimately demands that Rosa live her own life in the same despair and isolation.

Rosa rebells, but more significantly, Serafina makes the discovery that her late husband was unfaithful to her.She also meets Alvaro Mangiacavallo, who has an unexpected series of similarities to her late husband: he drives a truck, he is of the same body type, and he is of the same passionate nature.These events have the effect of exploding Sarafina out of her depression and back into the mainstream of life.

Like most Williams plays, THE ROSE TATTOO is rich in visual and verbal symbolism and allegory; unlike many Williams plays, the play ends on a positive note, with Sarafina ultimately electing to embrace life.But in comparison to such masterworks as GLASS MENAGERIE, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, and CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, it seems loosely written, more of a prolonged character study than a cohesive, unified play.Recommended: lesser Tennessee Williams is almost always first rate in comparison with most other authors of his generation; even so, not quite among the first rank of the author's output.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The Corrupting Rush of Time
This is a good, not great Williams drama, about a woman named Serafina Delle Rose, a spirited, vivacious Sicilian immigrant living somewhere along the Gulf Coast. While she is stricken by a death early on in the play, it is her heart and soul which throughout the story is subject to her own mania. She is an insensed woman, in the stereotypical Italian thrust, full of big gestures and deep longing. Also a devout Catholic, her spiritually gut wrenching journey is tied very much into the Virgin Mary.
Without dealing with what happens and why and who it happens to, this is very much a Williams play. A widowed woman, yearning for a life that is gone, sexually frustrated, emotionally wracked. There is also much symbolism, in particular Catholic symbolism, and spiritual superstition. Serafina's sexually blossoming daughter is where Serafina once was, and this provides for conflict, but the sub-plot here is not great, and the majority of the play is Serafina's wild twisting from love toward love, with the gamut in between.

"Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence." So says Tennessee in a terrific short essay called The Timeless World Of A play, which opens the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Tennessee Williams was one of the most popular successful and most critically lauded and vilified dramatists of the 20th century. His most famous plays are examined in this text, including Suddenly Last Summer, The Glass Menagerie, and A Streetcar Named Desire.

This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. Titles present the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature reflecting a variety of schools of criticism. Texts also contain critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index, and an introductory essay by Bloom. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lots-o-Info!
This is one of the most informative books I've ever read.Harold Bloom takes you through, close to every piece of literature ever written by Williams, and tears it apart piece by piece, allowing the reader to get to the essence of the writing, and also get some insight from another person. I think it to be very refreshing to find such a tacctful book on literarycriticism.It's a fabulous book that I would recommend to anyone in aheartbeat! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Could not make it to the end
Despite my admiration for both Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, this book did them little justice.It appears to have been more for the author to talk about himself rather than trying to get into his subjects.I've read another book by Mr. Windham and did not find this to be problematic.The other issue I had with it is that as the book went on, the author started writing these long, convoluted sentences that he may have thought seemed Proustian but, in reality, made little sense--if not completely contradictory.I was not impressed.

Loved it
I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's filled with details that bring to life what it must have been like to be a (gay) man of letters from the 1940's to the 1980's (and Windham, at 90, is still kicking it in 2009).

no title
I only read the half about Truman Capote.Windham really revealed more of himself than of Truman - seems to me to be the archtype of a gay man - too, too sensitive to remarks about himself, either verbal or in print.Actually uses the phrase "conspiracy against me".I think a very biased portrait of Capote. ... Read more

Product Description
The author of A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was never shy about drawing on his personal and family drama for stage material. This collection of 15 essays examines how Williams's confessional style and subject matter in turn influenced a diverse group of American playwrights over the past six decades.

Critical comparisons with William Inge, Edward Albee, Neil Simon, David Mamet, Beth Henley, Christopher Durang, Tony Kushner, and others reveal the complexity of his influence. A special feature of this collection is its emphasis on how Williams was received by African American dramatists, including Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy and Suzan-Lori Parks. The collection ends with an original interview with Edward Albee on why and how Williams influenced him. ... Read more