Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

Vassilis Manoussakis (University of the Peloponnese)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1947

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

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In 1945, after several disappointments and theatrical flops, Tennessee Williams had his first great success with the play

The Glass Menagerie

, which won him his first Critics' Award. Having broken the jinx of Broadway, and having received the praise of the public and of the theatre critics alike, Tennessee Williams was now free to pursue his writing and prove to the theatre world that he was not merely a one-success writer but a playwright of world stature. He achieved that with a play which was originally called

The Poker Night

, and was later renamed

A Streetcar Name Desire

. It appeared on Broadway on December 3, 1947 and its cast was truly impressive: Jessica Tandy as the fragile Blanche Du Bois, one of the most complete female characters ever presented in theatre, and the young…

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2087 words

Citation: Manoussakis, Vassilis. "A Streetcar Named Desire". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 March 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6955, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

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