Summary
Tennessee Williams is recognized as one of America’s greatest dramatists and as an innovator of post-World War II theater. He looked for a mechanism for portraying the truth in theater at a time when traditional approaches no longer worked. Bold with form as well as subject matter, Williams confronted audiences with what had been taboo topics—sexuality, societal constraints, alcoholism, and brutality. His notable contributions to literature include The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. This newly updated volume from the Bloom's Modern Critical Views series features essays that examine the life and legacy of this formidable storyteller, and serves as an excellent guide for students curious to learn how Williams innovatively presented his daring topics within a highly lyrical context.
Specifications
Chronology. 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.