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Thomas Lanier Williams (March 26, 1911 –
February 25, 1983), better known by the pen name Tennessee Williams, was
a noted playwright. The name "Tennessee" was a name he adopted from his
father's background in Tennessee. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat On a Hot Tin Roof in
1955. In addition to those two plays, The Glass Menagerie in 1945 and
The Night of the Iguana in 1961 received the New York Drama Critics'
Circle Awards. His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo (dedicated to his partner,
Frank Merlo), received the Tony Award for best play. Genre critics
maintain that Williams writes in the Southern Gothic style.
****
Biography
Tennessee Williams's family was a troubled
one, and provided inspiration for much of his writings. He was born in
Columbus, Mississippi; the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1918.
His father, Cornelius Williams, was a travelling shoe salesman who grew
increasingly abusive as his children grew older. Edwina Williams,
Tennessee's mother, was a descendant of genteel southern life, and was
somewhat smothering. Dakin Williams, Tennessee's brother, was often
favored over Tennessee by their father.
For many years Williams lived in the French
Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. He first moved there in 1939 to write
for the WPA and lived first at 722 Toulouse Street (now a bed and
breakfast); he wrote A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) while living at 632
St. Peter Street.
Tennessee was close to his sister, Rose
Williams, who was perhaps the greatest influence on him. She was an
elegant, slim beauty who was subject to severe nervous attacks and was
diagnosed with schizophrenia. Mentally ill and emotionally disturbed,
she spent most of her adult life in mental hospitals. After various
unsuccessful attempts at therapy, her parents eventually allowed a
prefrontal lobotomy in an effort to treat her. The operation, performed
in 1943, in Washington, D.C. went badly, and Rose remained incapacitated
for the rest of her life.
Rose's failed lobotomy was a hard blow to
Tennessee, who never forgave his parents for allowing the operation. It
may have been one of the factors that drove him to alcoholism. The
common "mad heroine" theme that appears in many of his plays may have
been influenced by his sister.
Characters in his plays are often seen to
be direct representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in The
Glass Menagerie is understood to be modeled on Rose. Some biographers
say that the character of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is
based on her as well. The motif of lobotomy also arises in Suddenly,
Last Summer. Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie can easily be seen
to represent his mother. Many of his characters can be considered
autobiographical, including Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and
Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer. Actress Anne Meacham was a close
personal friend of Tennessee Williams and played the lead in many of his
plays, including but not limited to Suddenly, Last Summer.
In his memoirs, the playwright claims he
became sexually active as a teenager; his biographer, Lyle Leverich,
maintained this actually occurred later, in his late 20s. His physical
and emotional relationship with his secretary, Frank Merlo, lasted from
1947 until Merlo's death from cancer in 1961, and provided stability
when Williams produced his most enduring works. Merlo was a balance to
many of Williams's depressions, especially the fear that like his
sister, Rose, he would become insane. The death of his lover drove
Williams into a deep decade-long depression.
Tennessee Williams was the victim of a
gay-bashing in January 1979 in Key West, being beaten by five teenaged
boys, but was not seriously injured. The episode was part of a spate of
anti-gay violence that had occurred after a local Baptist minister ran
an anti-gay newspaper ad. Some of his literary critics spoke ill of the
"excesses" present in his work, but these were, for the most part,
merely attacks on Williams' sexuality.
Tennessee Williams died after he choked on
a bottle cap at the age of 71. However, some (among them is Dakin
Williams, his brother) believe he was murdered. Alternately, the police
report from his death seems to indicate that drugs were involved, as it
states that pills were found under his body.
He was interred in the Calvary Cemetery,
St. Louis, Missouri, despite his stated desire to be buried at sea at
approximately the same place as the poet Hart Crane, whom he considered
one of his most significant influences. He left his literary rights to
Sewanee, The University of the South in honor of his grandfather, Walter
Dakin, an alumnus of the University. The funds today support a creative
writing program.
Plays (chronological order)
Beauty Is the Word (1930)
Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay! (1935)
Candles to the Sun (1936)
The Magic Tower (1936)
Fugitive Kind (1937)
Spring Storm (1937)
Summer at the Lake (1937)
The Palooka (1937)
The Fat Man's Wife (1938)
Not about Nightingales (1938)
Adam and Eve on a Ferry (1939)
Battle of Angels (1940)
The Long Goodbye (1940)
Auto Da Fé (1941)
The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (1941)
At Liberty (1942)
The Gentleman Caller (Screenplay) (1944)
The Glass Menagerie (1944)
You Touched Me (1945)
Moony's Kid Don't Cry (1946)
This Property is Condemned (1946)
Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton (1946)
Portait of a Madonna (1946)
The Last of My Solid Gold Watches (1947)
Stairs to the Roof (1947)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
Summer and Smoke (1948)
I Rise in Flame, Cried the Phoenix (1951)
The Rose Tattoo (1951)
Camino Real (1953)
Hello from Bertha (1954)
Lord Byron's Love Letter (1955) - libretto
Three Players of a Summer Game (1955)
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
The Dark Room (1956)
The Case of the Crushed Petunias (1956)
Baby Doll (1956) - original screenplay
Orpheus Descending (1957)
Suddenly, Last Summer (1958)
A Perfect Anaysis Given by a Parrot (1958)
Garden District (1958)
Something Unspoken (1958)
Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
The Purification (1959)
And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of
Queens (1959)
The Purification (1959)
Period of Adjustment (1960)
The Night of the Iguana (1961)
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore
(1963)
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (1964)
Grand (1964)
Slapstick Tragedy (The Mutilated and The
Gnädiges Fräulein) (1966)
The Mutilated (1967)
Kingdom of Earth / Seven Descents of Myrtle
(1968)
Now the Cats with Jewelled Claws (1969)
In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969)
Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis?
(1969)
I Can't Imagine Tomorrow (1970)
The Frosted Glass Coffin (1970)
Out Cry (1973)
Small Craft Warnings (1972)
The Two-Character Play (1973)
The Red Devil Battery Sign (1975)
Demolition Downtown (1976)
This Is (An Entertainment) (1976)
Vieux Carré (1977)
Tiger Tail (1978)
Kirche, Kuchen und Kinder (1979)
Creve Coeur (1979)
Lifeboat Drill (1979)
Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980)
The Chalky White Substance (1980)
This is Peaceable Kingdom/Good Luck God
Steps Must be Gentle (1980)
The Notebook of Trigorin (1980)
Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981)
A House Not Meant to Stand (1982)
The One Exception (1983)
Novels
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950)
Moise and the World of Reason (1975)
The Bag People
Short Stories
Hard Candy: a Book of Stories (1959)
Three Players of a Summer Game and Other
Stories (1960)
The Knightly Quest: a Novella and Four
Short Stories (1966)
One Arm and Other Stories (1967)
Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed: a Book of
Stories (1974)
It Happened the day the Sun Rose, and Other
Stories (1981)
Poetry
In the Winter of Cities: Poems (1956)
Androgyne, Mon Amour: Poems (1977)
****
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URL of Original Article:
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Date Article Copied:
September 15, 2005
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