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Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams. Tennessee Williams. Born Thomas Lanier Williams March 26, 1911 Birthplace: Columbus, Mississippi Parents: Cornelius and Edwina Williams One of three kids Childhood in Mississippi? Great! Moving to St. Louis, Missouri? Not so great… But his art came from the rough times.

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Tennessee Williams

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  1. Tennessee Williams

  2. Tennessee Williams • Born Thomas Lanier Williams March 26, 1911 • Birthplace: Columbus, Mississippi • Parents: Cornelius and Edwina Williams • One of three kids • Childhood in Mississippi? Great! Moving to St. Louis, Missouri? Not so great… But his art came from the rough times. • Parents’ relationship was strained due to his father’s frequent absence as a salesman

  3. Tennessee Williams • Education: University of Missouri • Dad pulled him out upon learning that Tennessee’s girlfriend also attended the college • Worked at a shoe company • Turned to writing in his hard times • After a nervous breakdown, he returned to college at University of Iowa, where he graduated

  4. Tennessee Williams • Changed his name at age 28 when he moved to New Orleans. Chose Tennessee because his father came from there. • New Orleans inspired one of his most famous plays: A Streetcar Named Desire • While in New Orleans, he got his writing agent: Audrey Wood.

  5. Most Notable Plays • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof • In which his father inspired the character Big Daddy • A Streetcar Named Desire • Which won him the Pulitzer Prize • The Glass Menagerie • In which Tennessee’s own mother inspired the mother figure, Amanda Wingfield • His mentally fragile sister, Rose, inspired the daughter, Laura

  6. The Glass Menagerie • Debuted on Broadway on March 31, 1945 • Critics and audiences loved the play • Helped him make a true living off of play writing • Setting: The South. • Plot: A girl and her mother live together in a tenement, where they keep themselves somewhat,sadly removed from the real world

  7. A Street Car Named Desire • Debuted on Broadway December 3, 1947 • Pulitzer Prize winner • Setting: Laurel, Mississippi • Plot: Blanche DuBois is an alcoholic Southern Bell who is trying to hide her pitiful life from others. Eventually, however, a man, Stanley, cruelly gets her to tell the truth and then puts her in a mental institution.

  8. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof • Opened on Broadway March 24, 1995 • Won a Pulitzer Prize • Was Tennessee’s personal favorite play • Setting: Mississippi plantation home • Plot: A story about a husband and wife trying to overcome marital and family issues. • Themes: Greed, repression, death

  9. Sad fact… • Tennessee’s sister, Rose, was mentally unstable. While Tennessee was away from home as a teen, Rose was lobotomized (someone literally scraped away the front part of her brain with a pick, which entered the brain from behind the eyeball). The lobotomy was a failure, though, and she ended up even more mentally ill. Thus she was put in a mental hospital for the rest of her life.

  10. More Sadness… • Tennessee often suffered from bouts of severe depression. • Depression led to alcoholism. • Alcoholism led to drugs. • Drugs and alcoholism led to death for Tennessee Williams in New York City, February 25, 1983.

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