New Selected Essays: Where I Live - Softcover

Williams, Tennessee

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811217280 ISBN 13: 9780811217286

Publisher: New Directions, 2009

Synopsis

"There isn't a dull or conventional page, or an unlovely sentence in the book."―Scott Eyman, The Palm Beach Post

For most of his Broadway plays Tennessee Williams composed an essay, most often for The New York Times, to be published just prior to opening―something to whet the theatergoers’ appetites and to get the critics thinking. Many of these were collected in the 1978 volume Where I Live, which is now expanded by noted Williams scholar John S. Bak to include all of Williams’ theater essays, biographical pieces, introductions and reviews. This volume also includes a few occasional pieces, program notes, and a discreet selection of juvenilia such as his 1927 essay published in Smart Set, which answers the question “Can a good wife be a good sport?”

Wonderful and candid stories abound in these essays―from erudite observations on the theater to veneration for great actresses. In “Five Fiery Ladies” Williams describes his fascinated, deep appreciation of Vivien Leigh, Geraldine Page, Anna Magnani, Katharine Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor, all of whom created roles in stage or film versions of his plays. There are two tributes to his great friend Carson McCullers; reviews of Cocteau’s film Orpheus and of two novels by Paul Bowles; a portrait of Williams’ longtime agent Audrey Wood; a salute to Tallulah Bankhead; a political statement from 1972, “We Are Dissenters Now”; some hilarious stories in response to Elia Kazan’s frequent admonition, “Tennessee, Never Talk to An Actress”; and Williams’ most moving and astute autobiographical essay, “The Man in the Overstuffed Chair.”

Theater critic and essayist John Lahr has provided a terrific foreword which sheds further light on Tennessee Williams’ writing process, always fueled by Williams’ self-deprecating humor and his empathy for life’s nonconformists.

About this title

About the Author:

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) is the acclaimed author of many books of letters, short stories, poems, essays, and a large collection of plays, including The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Camino Real,Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending, The Night of the Iguana, and The Rose Tattoo.

National Book Award finalist John Lahr is the author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, among other books. He was the senior drama critic of The New Yorker for over two decades. He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and is the first critic ever to win a Tony Award (coauthor, Elaine Stritch at Liberty).

Review:

“A wonderful collection that should not be missed by those with even a glimmer of interest in the theater.”
- Rob Cline, Cedar Rapids Gazette

“It should be read not as a series of disparate essays but from cover to cover.”
- Caroline Bleeke, The Harvard Book Review

“Somehow, it's like seeing the Wizard of Oz looking out of the curtain and seeing himself in a mirror.”
- Marilis Hornidge, The Lincoln County News

“This collection of essays adds immeasurably to our understanding of Williams' devoted heart, his brave struggle.”
- Susan Larson, The Times-Picayune

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0811217280
• ISBN 13: 9780811217286
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Bak John S.