The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams / Edition 1

by Matthew C. Roudané

Overview

This is a collection of thirteen original essays from a team of leading Williams scholars. This wide-ranging volume covers Williams' works, from the early apprenticeship years through to 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. The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams also features a bibliographic essay surveying the major critical statements on Williams.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521498838
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/11/1997
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Literature
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.71(d)

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"...this essential collection.... Strongly recommended for all public and academic libraries, for Williams fans as well as Williams scholars." Choice

"The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams introduces readers to a contemporary and original critical overview of Williams's canon in an engaging and incisive manner. The fourteen essays contextualize the Williams canon through a judicious blend of biographical and historical detail and through a comprehensive examination of a literary and theatrical career that spanned nearly five decades. The strength of this companion lies in its incisively broad social provenance, in the cogent and compelling authority of its readings, and in its ability to accomodate a detailed historical perspective from a decidedly contemporary vantage point. All of the contributions offer precise, detailed, and accurate assessments of a canon that retains and expands its power to challenge responses to its impact. The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams will undoubtedly be a necessary work for students and seasoned scholars alike." Christina Hunter, South Atlantic Review

"Makes significant strides in the direction of opening up the work of an essential medieval philospher to non-specialists. More than that, for its clearer contributions, it also holds open the possibility of reinvigorating the excitement and interest the expert." Medieval Review

From the Publisher