New Select Essays:Where I Live Pa

by Williams,Tennessee

• ISBN13: 9780811217286
• ISBN10: 0811217280
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-21
• Publisher: New Directions

Summary

When Tennessee Williams had something to say, he could write a play, a poem, a story, or a letter. Fortunately he also wrote essays-erudite, emotional, witty, sly, self-deprecating, self-possessed, sharp, tender, vivid and charming, these often surprising essays open an enormous picture window on the man and his work. Found here are insights into Williams's creative process, as well as portraits of some of the great writers, directors, and actresses he knew and worked with such as Carson McCullers, Williams Inge, Elia Kazan, Tallulah Bankhead, Vivian Leigh, Geraldine Page, and Katharine Hepburn.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
Essays
"Amor Perdido" or How It Feels to Become a Professional Playwright	p. 3
Te Morituri Salutamus or An Author's Address to a First Night Audience	p. 8
Preface to My Poems	p. 11
The History of a Play (With Parentheses)	p. 15
Notes to the Reader	p. 25
The Author Tells Why it is Called The Glass Menagerie	p. 27
A Playwright's Statement on Dallas's Theatre' 45 Plans	p. 29
The Catastrophe of Success	p. 32
Chicago Arrival	p. 37
Questions Without Answers	p. 40
"Something Wild . . ."	p. 43
Carson McCullers's Reflections in a Golden Eye	p. 48
A Writer's Quest for a Parnassus	p. 54
The Timeless World of a Play	p. 59
The Meaning of The Rose Tattoo	p. 63
Facts About Me	p. 65
Foreword to Camino Real	p. 68
Afterword to Camino Real	p. 71
Person-To-Person	p. 73
Critic Says "Evasion," Writer Says "Mystery"	p. 76
The Past, the Present, and the Perhaps	p. 79
The World I Live In	p. 83
Author and Director: A Delicate Situation	p. 86
If The Writing Is Honest	p. 90
Foreword to Sweet Bird of Youth	p. 93
The Man In the Overstuffed Chair	p. 97
Reflections on a Revival of a Controversial Fantasy	p. 107
Tennessee Williams Presents His POV	p. 109
Prelude to a Comedy	p. 114
Five Fiery Ladies	p. 117
Carson McCullers	p. 121
A Summary of Discovery	p. 123
The Agent as Catalyst	p. 130
T. Williams's View of T. Bankhead	p. 134
Grand	p. 139
Slapstick Tragedy: A Preface	p. 147
The Wolf and I	p. 149
Happiness Is Relevant	p. 153
"Tennessee, Never Talk to an Actress"	p. 156
We Are Dissenters Now	p. 160
Too Personal?	p. 165
Homage to Key West	p. 168
Let me Hang It All Out	p. 171
Where My Head is Now and Other Questions	p. 175
The Blessings and Mixed Blessings of Workshop Productions	p. 177
I Have Rewritten a Play For Artistic Purity	p. 181
I Am Widely Regarded as the Ghost Of a Writer	p. 184
The Misunderstandings and Fears of an Artist's Revolt	p. 187
Miscellany: Reviews, Introductions, Appreciations, & Program Notes
A Reply to Mr. Nathan	p. 193
An Appreciation: The Creator of The Glass Menagerie Pays Tribute to Laurette Taylor	p. 195
An Appreciation of Hans Hofmann	p. 197
An Allegory of Man and His Sahara, a Review	p. 198
A Movie by Cocteau . . . , a review	p. 200
The Human Psyche-Alone, a review	p. 202
Notes on the Filming of The Rose Tattoo	p. 204
A Tribute from Tennessee Williams to "Heroic Tallulah Bankhead"	p. 207
On Meeting a Young Writer	p. 208
Concerning Eugene O'Neill	p. 210
Tennessee Williams Talks about His Play In The Bar of a Tokyo Hotel	p. 211
Notes for The Two Character Play	p. 211
To William Inge: An Homage	p. 213
W. H. Auden: A Few Reminiscences	p. 216
Foreword to Jane Bowles's Feminine Wiles	p. 217
Program Note for The Red Devil Battery Sign	p. 218
Foreword to Dakin Williams's the Bar Bizarre	p. 219
Homage to J.	p. 219
Juvenilia and College Papers
Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport?	p. 223
High School Travel Articles	p. 223
A Day at the Olympics	p. 224
The Tomb of the Capuchins	p. 225
A Flight over London	p. 226
A Night in Venice	p. 227
A Trip to Monte Carlo	p. 229
The Ruins of Pompeii	p. 230
A Tour of the Battle-fields of France	p. 231
A Festival Night in Paris	p. 232
The Almalfi Drive and Sorrento	p. 234
The First Day Out College Papers	p. 235
Candida	p. 236
Review of Two Plays by John M. Synge	p. 238
Some Representative Plays of O'Neill And a Discussion of his Art	p. 240
Is Fives	p. 243
Birth of an Art (Anton Chekhov and the New Theatre)	p. 246
Comments on the Nature of Artists with a few Specific References to the Case of Edgar Allan Poe	p. 254
Afterword	p. 259
Acknowledgments	p. 269
Abbreviations	p. 270
Notes	p. 271
A Complete List of Tennessee Williams's Non-fiction Prose Writings	p. 293
Index	p. 303
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