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A Streetcar Named Desire (Signet)
 
 
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A Streetcar Named Desire (Signet) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L & N..." (more)
Key Phrases: para los muertos, blue piano, Belle Reve, Shep Huntleigh, New Orleans (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
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  School & Library Binding, September 30, 1999 $18.40 $18.40 $13.70
  Paperback, December 31, 1997 $7.50 $3.27 $0.59
  Paperback, August 13, 1986 $7.99 $2.95 $0.01
  Mass Market Paperback, February 29, 1984 -- $25.96 $0.50
  Audio, Cassette, Abridged, Audiobook -- $10.00 $6.00
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Play in three acts by Tennessee Williams, first produced and published in 1947 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama for that year. One of the most admired plays of its time, it concerns the mental and moral disintegration and ultimate ruin of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle. Her neurotic, genteel pretensions are no match for the harsh realities symbolized by her brutish brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature


Product Description

The story of Blanche DuBois and her last grasp at happiness, and of Stanley Kowalski, the one who destroyed her chance.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Signet; 1st THUS edition (August 13, 1986)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451167783
  • ISBN-13: 978-0451167781
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,586 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #2 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Williams, Tennessee
    #37 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > United States
    #83 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics > United States

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Tennessee Williams
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First Sentence:
The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L & N tracks and the river. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
para los muertos, blue piano
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Belle Reve, Shep Huntleigh, New Orleans, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, New York, Streetcar Named Desire, Western Union, Dame Blanche, Four Deuces, Marion Brando
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Customer Reviews

113 Reviews
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4.3 out of 5 stars (113 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Williams's Intense Desire, May 14, 2000
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.
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece by Williams, September 29, 2001
Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire" came to Broadway in 1947, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, and was made into an award-winning film. But you don't have to wait to see a stage or video version of the play. "Streetcar" is one of those theatrical triumphs which also succeeds in book form as a compelling read.

Taking place in New Orleans, "Streetcar" tells the painful story of aging southern belle Blanche DuBois, her sister Stella, Stella's brutish husband Stanley, and the circle of people who frequent Stella's home. Williams creates an incisive examination of human sexuality and socioeconomic difference. His characters come to life with powerful dialogue; this play is a heartbreaking read.

A compelling companion text for "Streetcar" would be Eugene O'Neill's classic play "Anna Christie," which won the Pulitzer for the 1921-22 theater season. Like "Streetcar," "Anna" deals with male expectations of female sexuality in a powerful way.

Willams' Blanche is truly one of the most memorable female characters in United States literature. "Streetcar" is an unforgettable tapestry of desire, shame, and disturbing revelations. An essential text for anybody with an interest in 20th century drama.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Piece of America, December 6, 2002
By isaac moyer (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Streetcar and a Broken Tower
In the published edition of his masterwork, "A Streetcar Named Desire", Tennessee Williams uses as an epigraph the following stanza from "The Broken Tower", probably the final... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Robin Friedman

5.0 out of 5 stars Houseguest from Hell
Blanche Dubois is the houseguest from hell. She arrives at her sister Stella's cramped New Orleans apartment and showers contempt on the humble surroundings. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Stacy Saunders Hartog

4.0 out of 5 stars "A winnig play" Hm...spell check, please?
Obviously, A Streetcar Named Desire is a world-famous play that, along with The Glass Menagerie, made Tennessee Williams a household name (at least in the literary ones). Read more
Published 7 months ago by Austin Somlo

4.0 out of 5 stars Start of a new era
This was a very passiont film from the south drenched with liquior, romance, and confrontation. By far the best actress in the movie was blanch. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Brian Hayes

2.0 out of 5 stars no good choice
The choice of copies of _The Streetcar Named Desire_
(required reading for high school academic English
this summer) seemed to narrow down to ones with
lurid... Read more
Published 16 months ago by C. Scott

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Drama
This classic play by Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) is relentless and compelling. Few readers are un-affected by these pages, even more so than with The Glass Menagerie. Read more
Published 17 months ago by K.A.Goldberg

5.0 out of 5 stars Squalor, Poetry, and Remarkable Insight: An American Classic
Born in Columbus, Mississippi, Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) endured a difficult childhood and adolescence before suddenly exploding to national and then international fame with... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Gary F. Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars The Glorious Bird's iconic melodrama
This is probably the most famous piece of literature from the US that I hadn'd read yet, until now. Nor watched as a play or movie. Read more
Published on June 17, 2007 by H. Schneider

4.0 out of 5 stars A Streetcar Named ... Classic
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

Blanche's final decree before being taken away to the insane asylum is an ironic remark which Tennessee... Read more
Published on June 12, 2007 by Allen Chen

5.0 out of 5 stars A tragic story that illustrates the pitiful life of a lost woman
Despite its strange title, this book is a guaranteed to motivate you to appreciate your own life by learning of the tragedies of others. Read more
Published on June 12, 2007 by William Leung

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