The Plays of Tennessee Williams

Abstract

Tennessee Williams (1911–83) was born in Columbus, Missouri. At the age of twelve his father, a travelling salesman, moved the family to St Louis, but both he and his sister (with whom he had a close relationship, which is reflected in some of the plays) found urban life unsettling. He spent two years in college before taking a clerical job in a shoe company. He stayed there for two years, writing in the evenings. In 1938 he took a course at the University of Iowa, at the same time having a succession of part-time jobs. After receiving a Rockefeller fellowship in 1940, his plays became increasingly well-known and respected (his short stories and novels have received less acclaim). His autobiography Memoirs, was published in 1975.