Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Author: Tennessee Williams

Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 9780822201892

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THE STORY: In a plantation house, a family celebrates the sixty-fifth birthday of Big Daddy, as they sentimentally dub him. The mood is somber, despite the festivities, because a number of evils poison the gaiety: greed, sins of the past and desper


Book Synopsis Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by : Tennessee Williams

Download or read book Cat on a Hot Tin Roof written by Tennessee Williams and published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. This book was released on 1986 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: In a plantation house, a family celebrates the sixty-fifth birthday of Big Daddy, as they sentimentally dub him. The mood is somber, despite the festivities, because a number of evils poison the gaiety: greed, sins of the past and desper


Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Author: Thomas Adler

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-12-07

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1350310123

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A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) are major plays by Tennessee Williams, one of America's most significant dramatists. They both received landmark productions and are widely-studied and performed around the world. The plays have also inspired popular screen adaptations and have generated a body of important and lasting scholarship. In this indispensable Reader's Guide, Thomas P. Adler: - Charts the development of the criticism surrounding both works, from the mid-twentieth century through to the present day - Provides a readable assessment of the key debates and issues - Examines a range of theoretical approaches from biographical and New Criticism to feminist and queer theory In so doing, Adler helps us to appreciate why these plays continue to fascinate readers, theatregoers and directors alike.


Book Synopsis Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by : Thomas Adler

Download or read book Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof written by Thomas Adler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-07 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) are major plays by Tennessee Williams, one of America's most significant dramatists. They both received landmark productions and are widely-studied and performed around the world. The plays have also inspired popular screen adaptations and have generated a body of important and lasting scholarship. In this indispensable Reader's Guide, Thomas P. Adler: - Charts the development of the criticism surrounding both works, from the mid-twentieth century through to the present day - Provides a readable assessment of the key debates and issues - Examines a range of theoretical approaches from biographical and New Criticism to feminist and queer theory In so doing, Adler helps us to appreciate why these plays continue to fascinate readers, theatregoers and directors alike.


Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Author: Tennessee 1911-1983 Williams

Publisher: Hassell Street Press

Published: 2021-09-10

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9781015037113

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


Book Synopsis Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by : Tennessee 1911-1983 Williams

Download or read book Cat on a Hot Tin Roof written by Tennessee 1911-1983 Williams and published by Hassell Street Press. This book was released on 2021-09-10 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams

A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams

Author: Stephen Bottoms

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-09-25

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1472528727

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A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams provides the essential guide to Williams' most studied and revived dramas. Authored by a team of leading scholars, it offers students a clear analysis and detailed commentary on four of Williams' plays: The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth. A consistent framework of analysis ensures that whether readers are wanting a summary of the play, a commentary on the themes or characters, or a discussion of the work in performance, they can readily find what they need to develop their understanding and aid their appreciation of Williams' artistry. A chronology of the writer's life and work helps to situate all his works in context and the introduction reinforces this by providing a clear overview of Williams' writing, its recurrent themes and concerns and how these are intertwined with his life and times. For each play the author provides a summary of the plot, followed by commentary on: * The context * Themes * Characters * Structure and language * The play in production (both on stage and screen adaptations) Questions for study, and notes on words and phrases in the text are also supplied to aid the reader. The wealth of authoritative and clear commentary on each play, together with further questions that encourage comparison across Williams' work and related plays by other leading writers, ensures that this is the clearest and fullest guide to Williams' greatest plays.


Book Synopsis A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams by : Stephen Bottoms

Download or read book A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams written by Stephen Bottoms and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-09-25 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams provides the essential guide to Williams' most studied and revived dramas. Authored by a team of leading scholars, it offers students a clear analysis and detailed commentary on four of Williams' plays: The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth. A consistent framework of analysis ensures that whether readers are wanting a summary of the play, a commentary on the themes or characters, or a discussion of the work in performance, they can readily find what they need to develop their understanding and aid their appreciation of Williams' artistry. A chronology of the writer's life and work helps to situate all his works in context and the introduction reinforces this by providing a clear overview of Williams' writing, its recurrent themes and concerns and how these are intertwined with his life and times. For each play the author provides a summary of the plot, followed by commentary on: * The context * Themes * Characters * Structure and language * The play in production (both on stage and screen adaptations) Questions for study, and notes on words and phrases in the text are also supplied to aid the reader. The wealth of authoritative and clear commentary on each play, together with further questions that encourage comparison across Williams' work and related plays by other leading writers, ensures that this is the clearest and fullest guide to Williams' greatest plays.


A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire

Author: Tennessee Williams

Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc

Published: 1953

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 9780822210894

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THE STORY: The play reveals to the very depths the character of Blanche du Bois, a woman whose life has been undermined by her romantic illusions, which lead her to reject--so far as possible--the realities of life with which she is faced and which s


Book Synopsis A Streetcar Named Desire by : Tennessee Williams

Download or read book A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams and published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. This book was released on 1953 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: The play reveals to the very depths the character of Blanche du Bois, a woman whose life has been undermined by her romantic illusions, which lead her to reject--so far as possible--the realities of life with which she is faced and which s


The Theatre of Tennessee Williams

The Theatre of Tennessee Williams

Author: Tennessee Williams

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1971

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9780811211963

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Volume III of the series includes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Orpheus Descending (1957), and Suddenly Last Summer (1958). The first, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Award, has proved every bit as successful as William's earlier A Streetcar Named Desire. The other two plays, though different in kind, both have something of the quality of Greek tragedy in 20th-century settings, bringing about catharsis through ritual death.


Book Synopsis The Theatre of Tennessee Williams by : Tennessee Williams

Download or read book The Theatre of Tennessee Williams written by Tennessee Williams and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 1971 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume III of the series includes Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Orpheus Descending (1957), and Suddenly Last Summer (1958). The first, which won both the Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Award, has proved every bit as successful as William's earlier A Streetcar Named Desire. The other two plays, though different in kind, both have something of the quality of Greek tragedy in 20th-century settings, bringing about catharsis through ritual death.


Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Author: Tennessee Williams

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9780811216012

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Brick, an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie. His reunion with his father, Big Daddy, who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.


Book Synopsis Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by : Tennessee Williams

Download or read book Cat on a Hot Tin Roof written by Tennessee Williams and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brick, an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie. His reunion with his father, Big Daddy, who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.


Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Author: Thomas Adler

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-12-07

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1137292830

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A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) are major plays by Tennessee Williams, one of America's most significant dramatists. They both received landmark productions and are widely-studied and performed around the world. The plays have also inspired popular screen adaptations and have generated a body of important and lasting scholarship. In this indispensable Reader's Guide, Thomas P. Adler: - Charts the development of the criticism surrounding both works, from the mid-twentieth century through to the present day - Provides a readable assessment of the key debates and issues - Examines a range of theoretical approaches from biographical and New Criticism to feminist and queer theory In so doing, Adler helps us to appreciate why these plays continue to fascinate readers, theatregoers and directors alike.


Book Synopsis Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by : Thomas Adler

Download or read book Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof written by Thomas Adler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-07 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) are major plays by Tennessee Williams, one of America's most significant dramatists. They both received landmark productions and are widely-studied and performed around the world. The plays have also inspired popular screen adaptations and have generated a body of important and lasting scholarship. In this indispensable Reader's Guide, Thomas P. Adler: - Charts the development of the criticism surrounding both works, from the mid-twentieth century through to the present day - Provides a readable assessment of the key debates and issues - Examines a range of theoretical approaches from biographical and New Criticism to feminist and queer theory In so doing, Adler helps us to appreciate why these plays continue to fascinate readers, theatregoers and directors alike.


The Play about the Baby

The Play about the Baby

Author: Edward Albee

Publisher: Methuen Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 9780413773845

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The first British publication of a brilliant new Albee play If you have no wounds, how can you know if you're alive? In THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY, a young couple who are madly in love with each other, have a child - the perfect family - that is, until an older couple steal the baby. Through a series of mind games and manipulations, they call into question both couples' sense of reality and fiction, joy and sorrow in this devastating black comedy which invites parallels with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. "You're unlikely to find a more intriguingly structured, provocative or entertaining new play" - Curtain Up "The Play about the Baby rockets into that special corner of theatre heaven where words shoot off like fireworks into dazzling patterns and hues" - New York Times


Book Synopsis The Play about the Baby by : Edward Albee

Download or read book The Play about the Baby written by Edward Albee and published by Methuen Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first British publication of a brilliant new Albee play If you have no wounds, how can you know if you're alive? In THE PLAY ABOUT THE BABY, a young couple who are madly in love with each other, have a child - the perfect family - that is, until an older couple steal the baby. Through a series of mind games and manipulations, they call into question both couples' sense of reality and fiction, joy and sorrow in this devastating black comedy which invites parallels with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. "You're unlikely to find a more intriguingly structured, provocative or entertaining new play" - Curtain Up "The Play about the Baby rockets into that special corner of theatre heaven where words shoot off like fireworks into dazzling patterns and hues" - New York Times


A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams | From the author of the Books Like: A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams / The Glass Menagerie / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Suddenly Last Summer / The Night of the Iguana / A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays

A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams | From the author of the Books Like: A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams / The Glass Menagerie / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Suddenly Last Summer / The Night of the Iguana / A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays

Author: Tennessee Williams

Publisher: BEYOND BOOKS HUB

Published: 2023-03-11

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13:

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From the author of the Books Like · A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams · The Glass Menagerie · Cat on a Hot Tin Roof · Suddenly Last Summer · The Night of the Iguana · A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays · Summer and Smoke · Sweet Bird of Youth · The Rose Tattoo · Orpheus Descending ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥ Glimpse of the Book: The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L&N traces and the river. The section is poor but, unlike corresponding sections in other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses are mostly white frame, weathered grey, with rickety outside stairs and galleries and quaintly ornamented gables. This building contains two flats, upstairs and down. Faded white stairs ascend to the entrances of both. It is first dark, of an evening early in May. The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost a turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee. A corresponding air is evoked by the music of Negro entertainers at a barroom around the corner. In this part of New Orleans you are practically always just around the corner, or a few doors down the street, from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers. This “blue piano” expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here……. ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥ About the Author: Thomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth. Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥ Summary of the Book: Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in a vibrant, lower-class neighborhood in New Orleans. Blanche DuBois, an aging southern belle from a plantation in Laurel, Alabama, arrives to visit her pregnant sister, Stella. Upon meeting her sister, Blanche claims that she has lost the mansion in which she and her sister grew up, and she has been making ends meet as a schoolteacher. She also claims that she is visiting to calm her nerves. Stella’s husband, Stanley, is suspicious of Blanche, and as a result of Blanche’s genteel behavior, Stanley believes that she thinks of herself as above them. He hates her flirtatious and pretentious manner, and he insists that she share any money from the proceeds of the mansion with Stella and himself, but Blanche shows him that she lost the house to the bank and that she is nearly broke. One evening, Stella and Blanche return from a night out while Stanley and his friends are playing poker. One of Stanley’s friends, Mitch, finds himself sexually and emotionally attracted to Blanche and attempts several times to speak with her. He tells her about how he is taking care of his sick mother, and they share a cigarette. When Blanche turns on a radio and begins dancing with Mitch, Stanley becomes enraged at the interruptions to the poker game and Blanche’s flirtatious attitude, and he throws the radio out the window. Stella, seeing Stanley’s drunken and inappropriate reaction, insists that they end the poker game, but Stanley takes her offstage and beats her. Stella forgives him while Blanche shares a cigarette with Mitch and their interest in one another grows. The next day, Blanche tries to convince Stella to leave Stanley, but Stella claims that Blanche is overreacting. As Blanche begins explaining how vulgar and brutish Stanley is, he walks into the next room and overhears Blanche denigrating him. After she is finished, Stanley pretends not to have heard them talking, but when Stella runs to his arms to hug him, he stares at Blanche challengingly. After this interaction, Blanche begins writing a letter to a former boyfriend, Shep Huntleigh, who has made millions in the oil business. She believes he will help them escape, but Stella refuses and Blanche stops writing the letter. Stanley comes back home and mentions that he spoke to his auto-parts supplier, Shaw, who regularly travels through Laurel. Shaw has told him that Blanche used to stay in the ill-reputed Flamingo Hotel. Banche is shaken by this but denies it. Blanche plans to go on a date with Mitch, and she reveals to Stella that she feels insecure about her age and hopes that Mitch will not judge her because she does not plan to have sex with him. Stella and Stanley go on a date while Blanche is waiting for Mitch to arrive. As she is waiting alone, a young boy comes collecting money for the local paper. Blanche does not have any money, but she flirts with him and kisses him on the mouth before sending him away. Mitch arrives with a bouquet of flowers, and they go on their date. After several more dates, Mitch is concerned that he has not been entertaining to Blanche, but her mind is elsewhere. She has been thinking about her late husband, who killed himself after Blanche discovered him having sex with another man. Mitch tells Blanche that his mother is dying, and they decide that they are meant to be together because they both understand loneliness. After this date ends, it is Blanche’s birthday, and Stella is setting up decorations while Blanche bathes. Stanley comes home from the auto shop and tells Stella that he has learned about Blanche’s past: she had a reputation for being a loose woman in Laurel, and she was fired for having an affair with one of her students. He has informed Mitch and also purchased Blanche a birthday present: a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel. During the birthday party, conversation around the table is awkward, and Mitch does not arrive. When Stella criticizes Stanley’s eating habits, he throws his plates to the floor and leaves. When he comes back, he gives Stella the bus ticket back to laurel, and she becomes sick, running to the bathroom gagging. Stella is angry with Stanley for his insensitive treatment of Blanche. Stella begins to go into labor, and Stanley takes her to the hospital. Later that night, Blanche is drunk, and Mitch arrives to break up with her. She admits to the fact that she was promiscuous in Laurel and was fired from her teaching job for seducing one of her students. Mitch, though disgusted that she has lied to him, attempts to have sex with her. She screams “fire” as a way to draw attention to the flat, and Mitch runs out the door. Stanley comes back from the hospital, saying that Stella will be at the hospital until morning. He is in high spirits because of his son’s birth. Blanche, drunk, tells him that she will be leaving soon because Shep, her former suitor, has agreed to go travelling with her. She also tells him that she has broken up with Mitch. Stanley knows that she is lying about Shep, and he knows that Mitch broke up with her. In light of these lies, he begins insulting Blanche for her holier-than-thou attitude and makes fun of her appearance. He advances toward her, and when Blanche attempts to defend herself with a broken bottle, he grabs her arms and rapes her. In the final scene of the play, Blanche is preparing to leave, having convinced herself that Shep is going to come to take her away. In reality, she is to be sent to a psychiatric institution. Stella admits that Blanche told her about the rape, but Stella refuses to believe her sister, thinking it an imagined story brought on by her sister’s insanity. When the doctor and nurse come to take Blanche away, she initially resists but eventually accepts defeat. Though Stella has doubts about her sister’s fate and begins crying, she holds her newborn child as Stanley comforts her. ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥


Book Synopsis A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams | From the author of the Books Like: A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams / The Glass Menagerie / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Suddenly Last Summer / The Night of the Iguana / A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays by : Tennessee Williams

Download or read book A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams | From the author of the Books Like: A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams / The Glass Menagerie / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Suddenly Last Summer / The Night of the Iguana / A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays written by Tennessee Williams and published by BEYOND BOOKS HUB. This book was released on 2023-03-11 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the Books Like · A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams · The Glass Menagerie · Cat on a Hot Tin Roof · Suddenly Last Summer · The Night of the Iguana · A Streetcar Named Desire and Other Plays · Summer and Smoke · Sweet Bird of Youth · The Rose Tattoo · Orpheus Descending ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥ Glimpse of the Book: The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L&N traces and the river. The section is poor but, unlike corresponding sections in other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses are mostly white frame, weathered grey, with rickety outside stairs and galleries and quaintly ornamented gables. This building contains two flats, upstairs and down. Faded white stairs ascend to the entrances of both. It is first dark, of an evening early in May. The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost a turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee. A corresponding air is evoked by the music of Negro entertainers at a barroom around the corner. In this part of New Orleans you are practically always just around the corner, or a few doors down the street, from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers. This “blue piano” expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here……. ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥ About the Author: Thomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth. Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥ Summary of the Book: Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in a vibrant, lower-class neighborhood in New Orleans. Blanche DuBois, an aging southern belle from a plantation in Laurel, Alabama, arrives to visit her pregnant sister, Stella. Upon meeting her sister, Blanche claims that she has lost the mansion in which she and her sister grew up, and she has been making ends meet as a schoolteacher. She also claims that she is visiting to calm her nerves. Stella’s husband, Stanley, is suspicious of Blanche, and as a result of Blanche’s genteel behavior, Stanley believes that she thinks of herself as above them. He hates her flirtatious and pretentious manner, and he insists that she share any money from the proceeds of the mansion with Stella and himself, but Blanche shows him that she lost the house to the bank and that she is nearly broke. One evening, Stella and Blanche return from a night out while Stanley and his friends are playing poker. One of Stanley’s friends, Mitch, finds himself sexually and emotionally attracted to Blanche and attempts several times to speak with her. He tells her about how he is taking care of his sick mother, and they share a cigarette. When Blanche turns on a radio and begins dancing with Mitch, Stanley becomes enraged at the interruptions to the poker game and Blanche’s flirtatious attitude, and he throws the radio out the window. Stella, seeing Stanley’s drunken and inappropriate reaction, insists that they end the poker game, but Stanley takes her offstage and beats her. Stella forgives him while Blanche shares a cigarette with Mitch and their interest in one another grows. The next day, Blanche tries to convince Stella to leave Stanley, but Stella claims that Blanche is overreacting. As Blanche begins explaining how vulgar and brutish Stanley is, he walks into the next room and overhears Blanche denigrating him. After she is finished, Stanley pretends not to have heard them talking, but when Stella runs to his arms to hug him, he stares at Blanche challengingly. After this interaction, Blanche begins writing a letter to a former boyfriend, Shep Huntleigh, who has made millions in the oil business. She believes he will help them escape, but Stella refuses and Blanche stops writing the letter. Stanley comes back home and mentions that he spoke to his auto-parts supplier, Shaw, who regularly travels through Laurel. Shaw has told him that Blanche used to stay in the ill-reputed Flamingo Hotel. Banche is shaken by this but denies it. Blanche plans to go on a date with Mitch, and she reveals to Stella that she feels insecure about her age and hopes that Mitch will not judge her because she does not plan to have sex with him. Stella and Stanley go on a date while Blanche is waiting for Mitch to arrive. As she is waiting alone, a young boy comes collecting money for the local paper. Blanche does not have any money, but she flirts with him and kisses him on the mouth before sending him away. Mitch arrives with a bouquet of flowers, and they go on their date. After several more dates, Mitch is concerned that he has not been entertaining to Blanche, but her mind is elsewhere. She has been thinking about her late husband, who killed himself after Blanche discovered him having sex with another man. Mitch tells Blanche that his mother is dying, and they decide that they are meant to be together because they both understand loneliness. After this date ends, it is Blanche’s birthday, and Stella is setting up decorations while Blanche bathes. Stanley comes home from the auto shop and tells Stella that he has learned about Blanche’s past: she had a reputation for being a loose woman in Laurel, and she was fired for having an affair with one of her students. He has informed Mitch and also purchased Blanche a birthday present: a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel. During the birthday party, conversation around the table is awkward, and Mitch does not arrive. When Stella criticizes Stanley’s eating habits, he throws his plates to the floor and leaves. When he comes back, he gives Stella the bus ticket back to laurel, and she becomes sick, running to the bathroom gagging. Stella is angry with Stanley for his insensitive treatment of Blanche. Stella begins to go into labor, and Stanley takes her to the hospital. Later that night, Blanche is drunk, and Mitch arrives to break up with her. She admits to the fact that she was promiscuous in Laurel and was fired from her teaching job for seducing one of her students. Mitch, though disgusted that she has lied to him, attempts to have sex with her. She screams “fire” as a way to draw attention to the flat, and Mitch runs out the door. Stanley comes back from the hospital, saying that Stella will be at the hospital until morning. He is in high spirits because of his son’s birth. Blanche, drunk, tells him that she will be leaving soon because Shep, her former suitor, has agreed to go travelling with her. She also tells him that she has broken up with Mitch. Stanley knows that she is lying about Shep, and he knows that Mitch broke up with her. In light of these lies, he begins insulting Blanche for her holier-than-thou attitude and makes fun of her appearance. He advances toward her, and when Blanche attempts to defend herself with a broken bottle, he grabs her arms and rapes her. In the final scene of the play, Blanche is preparing to leave, having convinced herself that Shep is going to come to take her away. In reality, she is to be sent to a psychiatric institution. Stella admits that Blanche told her about the rape, but Stella refuses to believe her sister, thinking it an imagined story brought on by her sister’s insanity. When the doctor and nurse come to take Blanche away, she initially resists but eventually accepts defeat. Though Stella has doubts about her sister’s fate and begins crying, she holds her newborn child as Stanley comforts her. ♥♥ A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams♥♥