Tennessee Williams' Plays: Memory, Myth, and Symbol

by Thompson, Judith J.

• ISBN13: 9780820457444
• ISBN10: 0820457442
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-01
• Publisher: Peter Lang Pub Inc

Summary

This book identifies a recurrent structural pattern in Tennessee Williams' plays that lends organic integrity to their evocations of memory, myth, and symbol. Judith J. Thompson examines the evolution of a pattern of mythic recollection and existential reenactment in seventeen Williams plays - from its most successful realization in The Glass Menagerie through The Night of the Iguana to its parody in A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur - and explores the significance of the pattern to Williams' larger-than-life-size characters, his nostalgic ambience, and his tragicomic vision. By reference to Jungian psychology, existentialist philosophy, and Northrop Frye's schema of literary archetypes, this critical study demonstrates how Williams' drama imparts "mythic significance to modern secular experience."

Author Biography

Judith J. Thompson is a former lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Kansas.

Table of Contents

Note on the Text	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The Glass Menagerie	p. 13
A Streetcar Named Desire	p. 25
The Rose Tattoo	p. 51
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	p. 59
Orpheus Descending	p. 81
Suddenly Last Summer	p. 97
Sweet Bird of Youth	p. 131
The Night of the Iguana	p. 149
After Iguana	p. 179
Notes	p. 201
Index	p. 251
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