Orpheus Descending And Suddenly Last Summer

Two of Tennessee Williams's most revered dramas in a single paperback edition for the first time. Orpheus Descending is a love story, a plea for spiritual and artistic freedom, as well as a portrait of racism and intolerance. When charismatic drifter Valentine Xavier arrives in a Mississippi Delta town with his guitar and snakeskin jacket, he becomes a trigger for hatred and a magnet for three outcast souls: storekeeper Lady Torrance, “lewd vagrant” Carol Cutrere, and religious visionary Vee Talbot. Suddenly Last Summer, described by its author as a “short morality play,” has become one of his most notorious works due in no small part to the film version starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and Montgomery Clift that shocked audiences in 1959. A menacing tale of madness, jealousy, and denial,the horrors in Suddenly Last Summer build to a heart-stopping conclusion. With perceptive new introductions by playwright Martin Sherman — he reframes Orpheus Descending in a political context and explores the psychology and sensationalism surrounding Suddenly Last Summer — this volume also offers Williams’s related essay, “The Past, the Present, and the Perhaps,” and a chronology of the playwright’s life and works.

Celebrated playwright Williams brings alive the nature of love, hate, comedy, tragedy, joy, sorrow, and passion in four well-known works.

This is a collection of thirteen original essays from a team of leading scholars in the field. In this wide-ranging volume, the contributors cover a healthy sampling of Williams's works, from the early apprenticeship years in the 1930s through to his last play before his death in 1983, Something Cloudy, Something Clear. In addition to essays on such major plays as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, among others, the contributors also consider selected minor plays, short stories, poems, and biographical concerns. The Companion also features a chapter on selected key productions as well as a bibliographic essay surveying the major critical statements on Williams.

Unlock the more straightforward side of Suddenly Last Summer with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams. At the outset of this one-act play, Mrs. Venable is talking to the psychiatrist Dr. Sugar. She laments the death of her beloved son Sebastian and hits out at his cousin Catherine, whom she blames for his death and accuses of spreading vicious rumours about him. Indeed, Catherine’s claims about Sebastian have landed her in an asylum, and Mrs. Venable even attempts to convince the psychiatrist to perform a lobotomy on her. However, when Dr. Sugar talks to Catherine, the sinister truth about the events of the previous summer gradually emerges... Williams’s other works include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, and he is widely considered to be one of the greatest American playwrights of all time. Find out everything you need to know about Suddenly Last Summer in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

One of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams is known for his sensitive characterizations, poetic yet realistic writing, ironic humor, and depiction, of harsh realties in human relationship. His work is frequently included in high school and college curricula, and his plays are continually produced. Critical Companion to Tennessee Williams includes entries on all of Williams's major and minor works, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, a novel, a collection of short stories, two poetry collections, and personal essays; places and events related to his works; major figures in his life; his literary influences; and issues in Williams scholarship and criticism. Appendixes include a complete list of Williams's works; a list of research libraries with significant Williams holdings; and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.

THE STORY: Kerr, in the NY Herald-Tribune, describes: This, says Mr. Williams through the most sympathetic voice among his characters, 'is a true story about the time and the world we live in.' He has made it seem true--or at least curiously and su

This Literary Life draws extensively from the playwright's correspondences, notebooks, and archival papers to offer an original angle to the discussion of Williams's life and work, and the times and circumstances that helped produce it.