Summary
Thomas Lanier “Tennessee” Williams won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1945 for his “memory” play, The Glass Menagerie; it was his first success. His protagonist, Tom Wingfield, recalls events at his troubled home in St. Louis, where his suffocating mother, Amanda Wingfield, badgers him to locate a "gentleman caller" for his sister, Laura, a shy, lame girl who occupies herself with music and a collection of glass animals. Readers approaching this semi-autobiographical Southern Gothic drama will appreciate the quick-reference study helps offered here, such as the biographical sketch and character list. Advanced students will value the selective critical extracts and annotated bibliography.
Specifications
Annotated bibliography. Index.
About the Author(s)
Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. Educated at Cornell and Yale universities, he is the author of 30 books, including Shelley's Mythmaking (1959), The Visionary Company (1961), Blake's Apocalypse (1963), Yeats (1970), A Map of Misreading (1975), Kabbalah and Criticism (1975), Agon: Toward a Theory of Revisionism (1982), The American Religion (1992), The Western Canon (1994), Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection (1996), and Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), a 1998 National Book Award finalist. The Anxiety of Influence (1973) sets forth Professor Bloom's provocative theory of the literary relationships between the great writers and their predecessors. His most recent books include How to Read and Why (2000), Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (2002), Hamlet: Poem Unlimited (2003), Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (2004), and Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine (2005). In addition, he is the author of hundreds of articles, reviews, and editorial introductions. In 1999, Professor Bloom received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Criticism. He has also received the International Prize of Catalonia, the Alfonso Reyes Prize of Mexico, and the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennial Prize of Denmark.