A Streetcar Named Desire

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In Circulation

“i don’t want realism. i want magic!”Blanche DuBois—the insecure, promiscuous, archetypal Southern belle—has lost her ancestral estate. But she hasn’t lost her pretence. Penniless, she comes to stay with her sister and barbaric brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski.

Contemptuous of their two-room apartment in the working-class neighbourhood of New Orleans, Blanche is met with hostility from Stanley, who attempts everything to unveil her deceptions. What happens as the conflict between them increases?Will Blanche’s fantasies and illusions win over her reality?

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic work of social realism. Counted among the finest plays of the twentieth century, it has been adapted into multiple art forms including ballet and opera.

What will you learn from this book

Desire and Fantasy: The characters in the play, particularly Blanche DuBois, grapple with their desires and fantasies, often using them as a means of escape from harsh realities.
Fading Southern Aristocracy: The play explores the decline of the old Southern aristocracy represented by characters like Blanche, who struggle to maintain their social status and dignity in a changing world.
Brutality of Reality: Through the character of Stanley Kowalski, the play portrays the brutish reality of urban life and the clash between his raw, primal instincts and Blanche's delicate sensibilities.
Gender Roles: "A Streetcar Named Desire" examines traditional gender roles and power dynamics, particularly in the volatile relationship between Stanley and Stella.
Madness and Mental Health: Blanche's descent into madness and her struggle with mental health issues shed light on the stigma surrounding mental illness and the fragility of the human psyche.
Illusion vs. Reality: The play blurs the lines between illusion and reality, as characters like Blanche create elaborate facades to mask their true selves and avoid confronting painful truths.
Sexuality and Repression: Sexuality is a prominent theme in the play, with Blanche's repressed desires and Stanley's primal sexuality driving much of the conflict.
Loss and Loneliness: Both Blanche and Stanley experience profound feelings of loss and loneliness, albeit for different reasons, highlighting the universal human need for connection and belonging.
Destruction of Dreams: The play explores the theme of shattered dreams and lost opportunities, as characters grapple with the harsh realities of life and the consequences of their actions.
Tragedy and Redemption: "A Streetcar Named Desire" is ultimately a tragic tale of human frailty and the quest for redemption, as characters confront their demons and strive to find meaning in a world filled with pain and disillusionment.

Language	English
ISBN-13	9788175994270
No of pages	144
Font Size	Medium
Book Publisher	Fingerprint! Publishing
Published Date	10 Jan 2017

About Author

Author : Tennessee williams

1 Books

Thomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work.

He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955.

In addition, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and The Night of the Iguana (1961) received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards.

His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo (dedicated to his lover, Frank Merlo), received the Tony Award for best play.

Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was understood to be modeled on Rose.

Some biographers believed that the character of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is also based on her.

Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was generally seen to represent Williams' mother, Edwina. Characters such as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and Sebastian in Suddenly,

Last Summer were understood to represent Williams himself. In addition, he used a lobotomy operation as a motif in Suddenly, Last Summer.

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded to A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955.

These two plays were later filmed, with great success, by noted directors Elia Kazan (Streetcar) with whom Williams developed a very close artistic relationship, and Richard Brooks (Cat).

Both plays included references to elements of Williams' life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism.

Although The Flowering Peach by Clifford Odets was the preferred choice of the Pulitzer Prize jury in 1955 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was at first considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees, Joseph Pulitzer Jr.,

chairman of the Board, had seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and thought it worthy of the drama prize. The Board went along with him after considerable discussion.

Williams wrote The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer when he was 29 and worked on it sporadically throughout his life.

A semi-autobiographical depiction of his 1940 romance with Kip Kiernan inProvincetown,Massachusetts, it was produced for the first time on October 1, 2006 in Provincetown by the Shakespeare on the Cape production company, as part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.

Other works by Williams include Camino Real and Sweet Bird of Youth. His last play went through many drafts as he was trying to reconcile what would be the end of his life. There are many versions of it, but it is referred to as In Masks Outrageous and Austere.