Sweet Bird of Youth / A Streetcar Named Desire / The Glass Menagerie

by Tennessee Williams, E. Martin Browne (Editor)

Writing in 1959, at about the time Elia Kazan directed Sweet Bird of Youth on Broadway, Tennessee Williams described his first successful play as being "about as violent as you can get on the stage. During the 19 years since then I have only produced five plays that are not violent". First among them The Glass Menagerie, the memory play which was first presented in London in 1948 and in which he employed every device of scenery, lighting, and music to evoke nostalgia. The following year, he scored one of his biggest successes with A Streetcar named Desire, in which a woman's pathetic fantasies of primness and respectability are stripped down and violently exposed in New Orleans.
--back cover

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Classics, Drama, The United States Of America, Theatre, Literature

313 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1977

About the author

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.

Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Nat K · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

"...slow and implacable fires of human desperation."

I've always had a soft spot for the writing of Tennessee Williams. It's always been so exquisitely tortured. He's never shied away from the tough stuff. But he does so with a veneer of charm and gentility, while underneath there's a swirling mass of heaving sensuality and violence.

The Glass Menagerie was a text we had to read for either Year 9 or Year 10 English in high school (think 14 & 15 year olds). I don’t recall the exact year. His writing captured a spark in me. I loved it, and went on to read all of his plays and short stories. I've even been lucky enough to see many of his plays performed on stage over the years, including this one. His words translate to theatre performance beautifully as they're real. The characters hurt. They are flawed. They're broken and can't necessarily be fixed. That's what makes us - either as readers or as theatre goers- be able to relate to his writing. To empathise. As we can see so much of ourselves in it. As if he's holding up a mirror to our souls.

How can you not be captured by the story of Laura, a young woman trapped by her illness (suffering from the after effects of pleurisy), and her overbearing, over zealous mother Amanda, who looks to relive her youth and glory days by goading Laura into finding a ”gentleman caller”. As if that would solve all their problems. And Tom, dear, sweet Tom, trapped in a job at a warehouse, longing to be a poet. He is the brother/son, and narrator of the play, with demons of his own. All he wants to do is escape. His family and his life.

The intricate, delicate ornaments, the glass menagerie represent the fragility of life and our dreams. Laura’s collection of animal trinkets are her world.

TOM: I'm starting to boil inside. I know I seem dreamy, but inside - well, I'm boiling!
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LAURA: You make it seem like we were setting a trap.
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AMANDA: Not one gentleman caller? It can't be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado!
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It all comes crashing down as the Wingfield family implodes.

Trigger warnings!
Uncomfortable references to race and social class. Disquieting. I wonder if more recent print runs have removed these?

I chose this to re-read as I had to find another “big gun” to slowly get my reading mojo back. And who better than Tennessee Williams. It was perfect for this dull, rainy, sad Sunday. It’s taken me out of myself and completely into the writing, which is what all good works should do.

As an added bonus, a note fell out my book (it's my original school text; I'm a magpie and hang onto things). As the paper fluttered out of the pages, I recalled us writing notes to each other during study period. Instead of studying. That made me smile.

The Glass Menagerie is the only one of the three plays featured in this book which I've read and reviewed. The other two will keep for another rainy Sunday.

Always believe in Unicorns.

[Kaethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet Bird Of Youth; A Streetcar Named Desire; The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams I used to think Williams was the best. Vivian Leigh in Streetcar is an amazing performance. Plus, it's always fun to see how old the actresses are playing women who are fading. I still think of his work fondly, although now it just seems melodramatic and overwrought. Or "bigger than life and twice as unnatural".Library copy

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

"Physical beauty is passing. A transitory possession. But beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart - and I have all of those things - aren't taken away, but grow! Increase with the years! How strange that I should be called a destitute woman! When I have all these treasures locked in my heart."

Sweet Bird of Youth: 3.5
A Streetcar Named Desire: 4.5
The Glass Menagerie: 5

I can't lie, I got a little worried when this collection started with Sweet Bird of Youth. I was concerned because the story felt rather dated and a little on the nose. And you know what I think it was? I think it was because I didn't feel a lot of sympathy for the main character Chance (cool name though) - straight white man who did his old girlfriend dirty (picturing Paul Newman was quite nice though). A Streetcar and Glass Menagerie, however, had these complex, unhinged female characters that seemed so tangible and over the top in the way that a lot of people are. I've seen the film version of Streetcar which I liked but I think it would work better as a play. The directions are so immersive and the set-up for every scene is just so engaging. The characters are so flawed and confrontational. Stanley is terrible but he is always right which is the part that makes the confrontations interesting.

Glass Menagerie on the other hand caught me by surprise. The stage directions were so detailed and often bizarre which I loved. I had to look up some actual stagings of the play to see how people interpreted the visuals and it was so enlightening. The story is narrated by Tom but he really isn't that much involved with the actual story but rather characterises a mother and a sister existing in what feels like different universes. I found it to be about the mundanity of life and the disappointments of life. It's short and devastating, just like life I guess. I deeply recommend this one out of all these three. I think seeing this live as a play would be fascinating and amazing.

[Mert · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 Stars (%40/100)

I actually read A Streetcar named Desire before thrifting this book. I liked the play even though it was a bit complicated and boring in some chapters. Overall, it was a good play. I did not really like the other two plays in this. I never heard of them before buying the book, so I had no expectations whatsoever. They were okay but I liked A Streetcar named Desire more.

[Mads · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️: not much to say except that it always ended when it started to get interesting. I really liked the Glass Menagerie though.

[Khenan Bragador · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really great plays. My favourite was probably Sweet Bird of Youth.

[André Felipe Pertussatti · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Ramiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet Bird Of Youth: 3/5. A Streetcar Named Desire: 4/5. The Glass Menagerie: 5/5.

[Liam McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

more streetcars less desire

[Rosie Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

annual reread of streetcar- just gets better every time. blanche would have been proud of the magic Williams achieved with this masterpiece

[Rémi · Rating 4 out of 5]

SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH ***
PRINCESS: I guess there's a clock in every room people live in. . . .
CHANCE: It goes tick-tick, it's quieter than your heart-beat, but it's slow dynamite, a gradual
explosion, blasting the world we lived in to burnt-out pieces. . . . Time--who could beat it, who
could defeat it ever? Maybe some saints and heroes, but not Chance Wayne. I lived on
something, that--time?
PRINCESS: Yes, time.
CHANCE: . . . Gnaws away, like a rat gnaws off its own foot caught in a trap, and then, with its
foot gnawed off and the rat set free, couldn't run, couldn't go, bled and died. . . .
[...]
CHANCE [rising and advancing to the forestage]: I don't ask for your pity, but just for your
understanding--not even that--no. Just for your recognition of me in you, and the enemy, time,
in us all.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE ****
BLANCHE: It brought me here. - Where I'm not wanted and where I'm ashamed to be.

THE GLASS MENAGERIE *****
Just read the whole play

[وائل المنعم · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read The Glass Menagerie and Sweet Bird of Youth two years ago, Liked the first one - which contains a very good scene near the end - and disliked the second.

My review on A Streetcar Named Desire is here


I don't know why i don't like Tennessee Williams so much although i appreciate his plays' ideas, respect his imagination and the intensity of most of his characters. Maybe it's the language which is the most weakest point of his plays, You may like it spoken in theatre or in a movie but not read.

[Lilian ✦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Glass Menagerie really stood out to me out of all three plays. I love a play that can depict the realities of toxic dynamics between people. Also I absolutely loved the vision Williams had for this play, I could see it all in my head. Especially ‘blue roses’. I love how he played on nostalgia and a dreamlike space.

[Julio César · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say of Tennessee Williams that has not been said before. A true master of drama, one of those authors that will forever remain in the Parnasus of mankind's creative potential. His plays will be represented worldwide and still their message will be understandable and touching.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

These three plays encapsulate the decadence and faded gentility of the old southern states of the US. All the main characters have built themselves on self-deceit and lies. Their exposure to themselves and the others are the crux of what Williams is presenting.

[emily coppola · Rating 5 out of 5]

these plays were so good. i loved the sweet bird of youth and how it captures chances struggles. i loved a streetcar named desire and blanches character. her lying and illness and stellas dilemma on being there for her sister or sending her away. very good collection.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like reading plays, enjoyed Streetcar but will have to watch it to really appreciate it.

[Alec Downie · Rating 4 out of 5]

He remains a genius even after years of not reading him.

1 star lost for the negative things that come with the time it was written.

[juliette · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would've rated it one star out of five but "The Glass Menagerie" was a really enjoyable read