Study Guide to The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Intelligent Education

• Publisher: Influence Publishers
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781645424178
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Tennessee Williams, whose creative endeavors earned him two Pulitzer Prizes. Titles in this study guide include The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire.As an author of southern gothic and memory literature, Williams had a significant impact on theater and has been established as one of America's most successful playwrights. Moreover, he brought symbolism and poetic language to the stage as his writing evolved. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Williams' classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&AsThe Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

IMPORTANT DATES IN THE LIFE OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

The data in this section were collected from many newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. This information is important, as it attest to the popular success of Tennessee Williams.

1911

March 26-Thomas Lanier Williams born in Columbus, Mississippi, where maternal grandfather was a minister in the Episcopal Church; childhood illnesses gave extra time for reading many books.

1918

Family moved to St. Louis when Williams was about eight years old. This move to the ugliness of urban life had a harsh effect on him and his slightly infirm sister; led to the beginning of certain neuroses in Williams.

1930

Published first story in Weird Tales.

1931 to 1934

Attended University of Missouri for three years; joined a fraternity, flunked R.O.T.C., won small prizes in poetry and prose, and discovered that alcohol was a sure cure for shyness.

1934 to 1936

Went to work in a shoe company due to the Depression. Nervous breakdown, attributed to long days in warehouse and to nights of writing. Spent year of recuperation with grandfather who had retired and moved to Memphis.

1936

Attended Washington University, St. Louis; won first prize sponsored by the Webster Groves Little Theater for a one-act play; Williard Howard, director of the Mummers, asked for a play on anti-militarism, Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay!, produced in Memphis.

1937

Withdrew from Washington University.

1938 to 1940

Received B.A. degree from University of Iowa; wrote Spring Storm for seminar in playwriting; rewrote Fugitive Kind into Not About Nightingales; went to New Orleans where he was a waiter in the French Quarter; won $100 for one-act plays; returned to St. Louis; finished Battle of Angels.

1940 to 1942

Received Rockefeller Grant of $1000 with the assistance of Audrey Wood; rewrote Battle of Angels, produced in Boston by the Theater Guild, bad reviews, closed; heart condition led to 4F classification by the draft board; first operation on left eye for cataract; small Rockefeller Grant; lived in New Orleans; second operation on left eye; worked as elevator operator and usher in New York.

1942

Audrey Wood secures $250-a-week contract at M.G.M., two scripts rejected; worked on The Glass Menagerie script, refused by M.G.M.

1943

National Institute of Arts and Letters Citation.

1944

Award from American Academy of Arts and Letters and $1000; The Glass Menagerie opened in Chicago on December 26 to rave reviews.

1945

New York opening of The Glass Menagerie (561 performances, closing August 3, 1946); April 10, won New York Critics’ Circle Award for 1944-1945 on the first ballot. After another eye operation, wrote The Poker Night, later incorporated in A Streetcar Named Desire; You Touched Me opened September 25 in New York for 100 performances.

1946 to 1947

Twenty-seven Wagons Full of Cotton; Stairs to the Roof, written in 1941, produced at Pasadena Community Playhouse, theme used later in Camino Real; Actors Laboratory Theater in Southern California produced Mooney’s Kid Don’t Cry, Portrait of a Madonna, and The Last of My Solid Gold Watches.

1947

A Streetcar Named Desire opened in New York on December 3 for 855 performances, closed December 17, 1949; won Pulitzer Prize for 1947-1948; won a second New York Critics’ Circle Award for 1947-1948; You Touched Me published by Samuel French.

1948

Summer and Smoke opened in New York City October 6 for 100 performances, closed on January 1, 1949; first visit to Rome and Paris.

1950

Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone published by New Directions.

1951

The Rose Tattoo opened February 3 in New York City for 306 performances, closed October 27, 1951.

1952

Won election to National Institute of Arts and Letters. Summer and Smoke revived off-Broadway; directed by Jose Quintero, and starring Geraldine Page.

1953

Camino Real opened March 19 in New York City for 60 performances, closed May 9, 1953.

1955

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on March 24 in New York City and closed November 17, 1956; won Pulitzer Prize for 1954-1955 (Williams’ second); won Critic’s Circle Award for 1954-1955 (Williams’ third); Twenty-Seven Wagons Full of Cotton produced as part of All in One in New York.

1956

Baby Doll, the film, opened in New York City December 18; The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, Camino Real staged in London.

1957

Orpheus Descending opened in New York City, March 21 for 68 performances.

1958

Garden District (Something Unspoken and Suddenly Last Summer) opened off-Broadway January 7 at playwright’s request; Mooney’s Kid Don’t Cry, The Last of the Solid Gold Watches, This Property Is Condemned produced on television by Kraft Theater.

1959

Sweet Bird of Youth opened in New York City March 10 for 95 performances; Portrait of a Madonna produced as part of Triple Play April 15; first trip to Far East. The Purification, single Anta production.

1960

Period of Adjustment opened in New York City November 10, closed March 4, 1961.

1961

Night of the Iguana opened late in December in New York City, best dramatic form since Streetcar.

1962

T...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• 1) Important Dates in the Life of Tennessee Williams
• 2) Introduction to Tennessee Williams
• 3) The Glass Menagerie: Textual Analysis
• 4) Character Analyses
• 5) Critical Commentary
• 6) Essay Questions and Answers
• 7) Introduction to A Streetcar Named Desire
• 8) Textual Analysis
• 9) Character Analyses
• 10) Essay Questions and Answers
• 11) Bibliography and Guide to Further Research