Magical Muse

by Voss, Ralph F.

• ISBN13: 9780817311278
• ISBN10: 0817311270
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Alabama Pr

Summary

Like Faulkner before him, Tennessee Williams gave universal appeal to southern characters and settings. His major plays, from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie to A Streetcar Named Desire and Night of the Iguana, continue to capture America's popular imagination, a significant legacy. Though he died in 1983, only recently have Williams's papers become available to the public, bringing to light a number of intriguing discoveries -- letters, drafts, and several unpublished and unproduced plays. These recent developments make a reassessment of Williams's life and work both timely and needed.

The essays in this collection originated as presentations at the 27th annual Alabama Symposium on English and American Literature at The University of Alabama in 1999. The book addresses a wide range of topics, among them the influence of popular culture on Williams's plays, and, in turn, his influence on popular culture; his relationship to Hollywood and his struggles with censorship, Hollywood standards, and the competing vision of directors such as Elia Kazan;

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	1	(7)
Ralph F. Voss
Tennessee Williams Scholarship at the Turn of the Century	8	(27)
George W. Crandell
The Year 1939: Becoming Tennessee Williams	35	(15)
Albert J. Devlin
``Tiger---Tiger!'': Blanche's Rape on Screen	50	(20)
Nancy M. Tischler
The Escape That Failed: Tennessee and Rose Williams	70	(21)
Michael Paller
Four Characters in Search of a Company: Williams, Pirandello, and the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Manuscripts	91	(20)
Jeffrey B. Loomis
The Metaphysics of Tennessee Williams	111	(20)
Robert Siegel
The Family of Mitch: (Un)suitable Suitors in Tennessee Williams	131	(16)
Philip C. Kolin
In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel: Breaking the Code	147	(16)
Allean Hale
``Entitled to Write About Her Life'': Tennessee Williams and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald	163	(15)
Jackson R. Bryer
``It's Another Elvis Sighting, and . . . My God . . . He's with Tennessee Williams!''	178	(15)
Barbara M. Harris
Tennessee Williams in New Orleans	193	(13)
W. Kenneth Holditch
Tennessee Williams: The Angel and the Crocodile	206	(9)
Dan Sullivan
Afterwords: A Panel Discussion	215	(26)
Colby Kullman
Contributors	241	(4)
Index	245