27 Wagons Full of Cotton An Other One Act Plays [Paperback]

Tennessee Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1966

The thirteen one-act plays collected in this volume include some of Tennessee Williams's finest and most powerful work.

They are full of the perception of life as it is, and the passion for life as it ought to be, which have made The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire classics of the American theater.

Only one of these plays (The Purification) is written in verse, but in all of them the approach to character is by way of poetic revelation. Whether Williams is writing of derelict roomers in a New Orleans boarding house (The Lady of Larkspur Lotion) or the memories of a venerable traveling salesman (The Last of My Solid Gold Watches) or of delinquent children (This Property is Condemned), his insight into human nature is that of the poet. He can compress the basic meaning of life—its pathos or its tragedy, its bravery or the quality of its love—into one small scene or a few moments of dialogue.

Mr. Williams's views on the role of the little theater in American culture are contained in a stimulating essay, "Something wild...," which serves as an introduction to this collection.

Editorial Reviews

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: 238 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (January 17, 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811202259
• ISBN-13: 978-0811202251
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These short works by Williams are definitely worth reading., January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton An Other One Act Plays (Paperback)

This collection contains 13 short works by Williams. This work draws me to it because of the poetic style that Williams uses. Not only the dialogue, but the moods and situations are both poetic--both subtle and dynamic at the same time. These short plays may not be crafted as well as such masterworks as -Streetcar- and -Menagerie-, but Tennessee was definitely on to something when he wrote them. They are strange, but Williams doesn't seem to be contriving strange things for the sake of being strange or making spectacle. The power in these works reminds me of the power of the contemporary poet Louise Gluck; I can't really understand why Louise's poetry or Tennessee's short works are so strong because they seem so simple and sparce. I am an aspiring writer and director--for someone heading in either of those directions, this book is a must read. It will make you think. You must be prepared to not really understand the works, but that hazy quality makes them all the more wonderful. It's as if Williams knows the language of feelings and doesn't employ the language of the mind with which we're so familiar.

4.0 out of 5 stars all times classique edition, April 6, 2008

By 

Georgia Matsouka "gmatsouka" (Greece) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton An Other One Act Plays (Paperback)

The edition was as expected: traditional, simple with no annoying comments. Though, I would prefer a more extended introduction.
As for Amazon's services, I was amazed by its reliability. Thanks guys!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early Plays from a Great Playwright, July 11, 2003

By 

Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton An Other One Act Plays (Paperback)

The first professional performance of a play I ever saw was A Streetcar Named Desire. The first major part I ever acted in a play was in The Glass Menagerie. The largest city near my hometown when I was growing up was St. Louis. So I have a close connection to Tennessee Williams and I admire him very much as a playwright but I had never read these short plays of his until now. There are some wonderful things here.

Nearly all the plays here are quite interesting, my favorites of these play being the simplest ones where two or three characters are having conversations: "Talk To Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen...," "This Property is Condemned," "Auto-Da-Fe" and "Something Unspoken." Slightly more complex but still plays with depth and interest are the title play ("27 Wagons Full of Cotton"), "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion," "Portrait of a Madonna" and "The Strangest Kind of Romance."

If there is a problems with some of these plays, it is the difficulty in staging them; certainly with the kind of detail that Williams specifies in the stage directions. Many of the theatre companies I work with simply do not have the resources to create the kind of wonderful images Williams describes. I loved reading "The Purification"--a lovely verse play--but I thought it incredibly difficult to stage, which is too bad.

Even if you aren't considering staging the plays, however, they are worth reading. It is easy to see from these early plays how Williams was developing the ideas that would become some of his greatest characters, particularly Blanche from Streetcar. If you have any interest in Williams as a playwright, this is a book that should definitely be read.