| New Selected Essays: Where I Live Revised, Expand Edition Contributor(s): Williams, Tennessee (Author), Bak, John S. (Editor), Lahr, John (Foreword by) |
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ISBN: 0811217280 ISBN-13: 9780811217286 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation OUR PRICE: $17.06 Product Type: Paperback Published: April 2009 Annotation: Much expanded, this selection of essays by Tennessee Williams includes such famous pieces as the debilitating effect that success had on Williams (when he had to escape from New York and success), essays on his plays, writings for his friends such as an essay on Carson McCuller's "Reflections in a Golden Eye," and more. Taken from the earliest auspicious beginnings of his career when he entered an essay contest as a teenager to his old age, this selection will give readers intimate access to Williams as an artist, poet, playwright, and a human being. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Essays - Literary Collections | American - General |
| Dewey: 814.54 |
| LCCN: 2008052179 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.9" W x 8.8" (0.95 lbs) 256 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Williams, Tennessee: - 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.Lahr, John: - 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). |