The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams

This wide-ranging volume covers Williams's works, from his early apprenticeship years through his last play before his death in 1983. In addition to essays on the major plays, the contributors also consider selected minor plays, short stories, poems, and biographical concerns. Plus, the book features a bibliographic essay surveying major critical statements on Williams and his work. Photos.

This is a collection of thirteen original essays from a team of leading scholars in the field. In this wide-ranging volume, the contributors cover a healthy sampling of Williams's works, from the early apprenticeship years in the 1930s through to his last play before his death in 1983, Something Cloudy, Something Clear. In addition to essays on such major plays as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, among others, the contributors also consider selected minor plays, short stories, poems, and biographical concerns. The Companion also features a chapter on selected key productions as well as a bibliographic essay surveying the major critical statements on Williams.

List of illustrations and acknowledgements; Notes on contributors; Chronology; Introduction Matthew C. Roudané; 1. Early Williams: the making of a playwright Allean Hale; 2. Entering The Glass Menagerie C. W. E. Bigsby; 3. A streetcar running fifty years Felicia Hardison Londré; 4. Camino Real: Williams's allegory about the fifties Jan Balakian; 5. Writing in 'A Place of Stone': Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Albert J. Devlin; 6. Before the fall - and after: Summer and Smoke and The Night of the Iguana Thomas P. Adler; 7. The sacrificial stud and the fugitive female in Suddenly Last Summer, Orpheus Descending, and Sweet Bird of Youth John M. Clum; 8. Romantic textures in Tennessee Williams's plays and short stories Nancy M. Tischler; 9. Seeking direction Brenda Murphy; 10. Hollywood in crisis: Tennessee Williams and the evolution of the adult film R. Barton Palmer; 11. Tennessee Williams: the last two decades Ruby Cohn; 12. Words on Williams: a bibliographical essay Jacqueline O'Connor; 13. The Strangest Kind of Romance: Tennessee Williams and his Broadway critics Jacqueline O'Connor; Index.

This wide-ranging volume covers Williams's works, from the early apprenticeship years through to his last play before his death in 1983. In addition to essays on the plays, the contributors also consider selected short stories, poems, and biographical concerns and a bibliographic chapter surveys the major critical statements on Williams.