The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams, Vol. 2: 1945-1957
This second volume of the playwright's correspondence begins at a time, after the staging ofThe Glass Menagerie,when Williams had "no interest... in more Broadway productions." It wouldn't be long, though, before he started writingA Streetcar Named Desire,which would become an even greater success and was the first of many collaborations with director Elia Kazan. Williams had plenty of advice for Kazan about the staging ofStreetcarand subsequent plays, and the letters reveal the active role he played in making film adaptations of his work palatable for Hollywood censors. They also display the more relaxed personality he showed with friends, sharing gossip about visitors like Carson McCullers and Gore Vidal. With those who knew about his "unconventional mode of living," as he referred to homosexuality, he could speak even more freely, though some comments about "queens" have a mean, cynical edge. But he took great pains to keep this side of his life hidden, reminding his publisher that a collection of more explicit short stories shouldn't be displayed in bookstores or even sent to St. Louis, where his mother might see it. Williams scholars Devlin and Tischler fill in the background details effectively through interstitial notes, producing a life story that gives voice to a great playwright. B&w illus.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.