A Streetcar Named Desire (New Directions Paperbook) [Paperback]

Tennessee Williams (Author), Arthur Miller (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: New Directions Paperbook | Publication Date: September 2004

The Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Circle Award winning play—reissued with an introduction by Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), and Williams' essay "The World I Live In."

It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared—57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays. The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Streetcar launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden, and solidified the position of Tennessee Williams as one of the most important young playwrights of his generation, as well as that of Elia Kazan as the greatest American stage director of the '40s and '50s.

Who better than America's elder statesman of the theater, Williams' contemporary Arthur Miller, to write as a witness to the lightning that struck American culture in the form of A Streetcar Named Desire? Miller's rich perspective on Williams' singular style of poetic dialogue, sensitive characters, and dramatic violence makes this a unique and valuable new edition of A Streetcar Named Desire. This definitive new edition will also include Williams' essay "The World I Live In," and a brief chronology of the author's life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“In Streetcar Williams found images and rhythms that are still part of the way we think and feel and move.” (Jack Kroll - Newsweek )

“Lyrical and poetic and human and heartbreaking and memorable and funny.” (Francis Ford Coppola )

“The introductions, by playwrights as illustrious as Williams himself, are the gem of these new editions.” (Ken Furtado - Echo Magazine )

“Blanche is the Everest of modern American drama, a peak of psychological complexity and emotional range.” (John Lahr - The New Yorker )

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (September 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811216020
• ISBN-13: 978-0811216029
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #933 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Williams, Tennessee
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > History
  • #2 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > United States

More About the Author

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), one of the 20th century's most superb writers, was also one of its most successful and prolific. His classic works include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Summer and Smoke, Camino Real, Sweet Bird of Youth, Night of the Iguana, Orpheus Descending, and The Rose Tattoo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Williams's Intense Desire, May 14, 2000

By 

Blaine Bisel (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Streetcar Named Desire (Paperback)

Tennessee Williams's masterfully written drama explores the extremes of fantasy versus reality, the Old South versus the New South, and primitive desire versus civilized restraint. Its meager 142 page spine is no indication of the complexity and significance that Williams achieves in his remarkable work. A strong aspect of the play is Williams's amazingly vivid portrayal of desperate and forsaken characters who symbolize and presumably resolve his battles between extremes. He created and immortal woman in the character of Blanche DuBois, the haggard and fragile southern beauty whose pathetic last grasp at happiness is cruelly destroyed. She represents fantasy for her many outrageous attempts to elude herself, and she likewise represents the Old South with only her manners and pretentions remaining after the foreclosure of her family's estate. The movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire shot Marlon Brando to fame as Stanley Kowalski, a sweat-shirted barbarian and crudely sensual brother-in-law who precipitated Blanche's tragedy. He symbolizes unrestrained desire with the recurring animal motif that follows him throughout the play. A third major character, Stella Kowalski, acts as mediator between her constantly conflicting husband and older sister. She magnifies the New South in her renounce of the Old pretentions by marrying a blue collar immigrant. Conflicts between these and other vividly colorful characters always in light of the cultural New Orleans backdrop provide a reader with a lasting impression and an awe for Williams's impeccable style and intense dialogue.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Humble Literary Criticism of A Streetcar Named Desire, May 8, 2001

By 

Richard O Frazier II (Arlington, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Streetcar Named Desire (Paperback)

Tennessee Williams utilizes sounds and music throughout A Streetcar Named Desire to change the mood, to foreshadow the future events, and to reveal the inner workings of the character's minds. The use of music, especially the use of polka music, dictates the mood of the play. The rushed, pounding polka inspires a sense of insanity in the reader, and even more so from a person watching the play. The reader can tell that Blanche is slowly going insane just because of the powerful polka music. The music even shows what could have been, such as when, in the beginning of scene nine, Mitch saves Blanche from the tortuous polka. This symbolizes that Mitch could have saved Blanche from her ultimate insanity. The other major music in the book is the "Blue Piano." This music is often in the background when Stanley and Stella are acting like they are in love. This music almost seems to entice the two lovers into an even deeper state of loving each other. In the first scene, the "Blue piano" plays, and the married couple are flirting and having a good time with each other. This musical symbol is very powerful and important, enough so to be the subject of the final stage direction in the play. The play's "happily ever after" ending is characterized by "the swelling of the 'blue piano' and the muted trumpet." Without this symbolism, Stanley and Stella's love for each other would not be as evident, and scenes like the end of scene three would be much more confusing if the music was not being played. These two major pieces of music serve as translators for the reader and film patron; the music foreshadows, interprets character's thoughts and emotions, and changes the mood of the play.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Piece of America, December 5, 2002

By 

isaac moyer (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Streetcar Named Desire (Paperback)

Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece has been the source of controversy since it was written five decades ago. It is the story of the fallen Southern belle Blance Dubois, whose desperate illusions of grandeur are rent to shreds by her earthy and realistic brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Touching on issues of prejudice, sexual codependence, mental breakdown, and rape, A Streetcar Named Desire is at times disturbing in its brutal honesty. Readings of this sultry play have found it to be anything from a critique of the conflict between the North and South in post Civil War America, to a subtle commentary on the struggles of Williams' life as a homosexual. The image of Stanley bellowing drunkenly to his wife Stella, as well as lines such as Blanche telling how she has "always depended on the kindness of strangers" have become so much a part of the American consciousness that they are recognizable even to those who are unfamiliar with Williams' work itself.