Tennessee Wilaims

Tennessee Williams had a very interesting life. He has experienced much, from winning the prestigious Group Theatres Award in 1939 to writing famous plays, some turned into movies. His works have impacted many. Tennessee Williams liked to write his plays centered on people in deteriorating situations. Williams says that his work is "a reflection" of himself. If this is true then we must consider that Tennessee Williams had a very tension filled life. I quote a passage from a Tennessee Williams biography: "Then you admit that "developing tension" is a reflection of a "condition" of yourself?" the author asked. "Yes," Williams admits. Williams said that his bisexuality was never anything that he needed to address in his works. Williams' works are, however, controversial. In one biography the author wrote: "He has been criticized for overindulging in sexuality and violence, and in his later, rather disjointed and stylized plays have been subjected to particularly harsh criticism." I believe that Tennessee Williams' childhood, mainly his mother, influenced his writing style. I believe this because his mother was a writer herself who mainly focused on telling stories of her life. Also, as stated before, Williams' writings are based upon people living in deteriorating situations. I believe this is because Williams was often made fun of as a child. In a biography of Williams, the author tells of him recalling being teased by gangs of boys when he began to go to school. Williams kept going to school and he would use his knowledge to write the great works he produced.

Williams began early in writing. His mother, obviously very loving, published two poems he wrote for his junior high newspaper in 1925, as you can see his mother was obviously extremely proud and loved the fact her son was following in her footsteps. He was first published in 1927, it was a book called Weird Tales. Many say that this was a get away for Williams, a get away from his hard childhood. I quote Tennessee Williams on my last statement "I write from my own tensions. For me this is a form of therapy," Williams told a Newsweek reporter. Williams has spoken many times about how writing is an escape for him. Williams, only 16, made an entry in the Smart Set contest in which, though not directly stated, he pretended to be his dad. Williams won third prize. This was also republished in his mother's book, Remember Me Tom, in 1928. Here are a few of his works; since Williams was mainly a script writer a lot of these will be well known plays: The Glass Menagerie, one of Williams's most successful plays. It was also a Media Adaptation, A Streetcar Named Desire, an extremely famous musical in which Marlon Brando Stars, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, first produced on Broadway at Morosco Theatre, 1955, The Night of the Iguana, also a very successful book, those were just a few of the works, and more successful ones, done by Tennessee Williams, .His success of writing was a great one.

Williams style was one of great depression. His writing was mainly based on people set-in deteriorating situations. You must have sympathy because these thoughts were compelled by early memories of a terrible childhood. Williams had a very troubled life; a life which I believe created his style. He was constantly bullied by others, his father was a drunk and never home. He was constantly moving. He was forced to leave college to help his family. All of this, I believe, fueled Williams to write about people in bad situations to release his "anger". I quote a passage from a Tennessee Williams biography: "Then you admit that "developing tension" is a reflection of a "condition" of yourself?" the author asked. "Yes," Williams admits, as stated before. Williams writing was a psycho-therapy for himself. He even states it in the same interview as about "I guess my work has always been a kind of psycho-therapy for me." Williams also wrote for himself. If others liked it than great, if they didn't o well. In the same interview he states this. "You don't expect audiences and critics to go along with you, do you?" the interviewer asked. "No," replied Williams. Williams also believes that the world in "his" time was crazy already so what would a few "controversial" books do (man, if only he lived here now)? Williams also writes to show humans how crazy they are, this is something many southern writers do. He figures if some people read his books they may be able to look at themselves and make a positive change. Williams's style has been able to get him far, so why change it?

Williams also had many encounters in which he met and bonded with famous authors (this information is received from a book called Conversations with Tennessee Williams, by Albert J. Devlin) Eugene O'Neill was one of them. Eugene and Williams became great friends. They often spent months in Rome together. He liked Eugene's writing, because of his great since of drama. Ernest Hemingway was another. Williams said that Hemingway was very understanding of homosexuality. That is mainly all Williams speaks of about Hemingway. He goes on about how he believes Hemingway was a homosexual in some way and that you could see this in his writings. This is also what he says about Scott Fitzgerald. He says that Fitzgerald was in some ways a homosexual, but yet he was married. He also met an author named William Inge, a man that received great criticism, but Williams still believed his works were well written. One of William's closet friends was Truman Capote. The two seem to have had a connection. Williams believed Capote was a very good looking and witty man. The two spent much time together until some bad words were spoken and the two split. As you can see Williams had encounters with many famous authors.

Williams also had a life outside writing. First of all he was an open bi-sexual. This is something I am very against but Williams was a very good writer and he didn't write about homo-sexuality in his books, and since it is a part of his life I feel I must write about it. Williams believed that there was no need to write about this in his works. He states that "he likes women more than men" however. Williams says that women respond to him more. Even though he was a man with emotions he didn't share them with a counterpart. He was single throughout his life. Williams believes that being single helped him in writing. Williams said "I think it made it possible for me to practice my profession as a writer." I believe he stated this because being a successful writer takes much time and will consume much of your time.

Williams was also an avid traveler. "I am restless," stated Williams