A Streetcar Named Desire 1947 Tennessee Williams Tennessee

A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams �Born in March of 1911 in Columbus, MS �Grand-Father was an Episcopalian priest �Father was a salesman, and a heavy drinker �Sister was a schizophrenic, spent much time in mental hospitals �Family openly favored his brother because of Tennessee’s observed weakness and perceived lack of masculinity, and apparent homosexuality, in comparison

Career �Began writing in high school and continued in college �His first produced play, Battle of Angels, was a failure, so he moved to New Orleans �While in New Orleans, he began A Streetcar Named Desire and successfully debuted The Glass Menagerie �Williams garnered immediate success with these two plays, and won the first of two Pulitzers with Streetcar

Cont. �Williams continued to write throughout his life and won his second Pulitzer for 1954’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof �In addition, 1952’s The Rose Tattoo won the Tony for best play and was adapted into an Academy Award Winning film soon thereafter �However, in the midst of his success, Williams struggled with depression

Streetcar �Set in a poor borough of New Orleans �This play was based on his sister’s illness and his own depression and struggles �The main characters are neurotic and cannot cope with the other’s egocentricities �Themes: insanity, real vs. fantasy, ostracizing, acceptance, racism, cultural irrelevance, truth vs. lies, domestic violence, delusion, sexuality, aging, social economics and, of course, desire