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Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage Of The Flesh (2014)

by John Lahr(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0393021246 (ISBN13: 9780393021240)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: This is a fabulous book, as one might expect the focus of the book is Williams' plays and what experiences he mined to write them. Lahr, the former theatrical critic of the New Yorker is well-equipped to write about Williams given his vast background in drama. He does justice not only to the major works, but the minor pieces and the later works which were probably unfairly condemned by contemporary appraisers. I have to confess when some of these works premiered in the late 70s and 80s, the venom that greater each new production was almost shocking. I am thoroughly intrigued to see some of these later works. Williams created some of the greatest female characters in literature and this fact alone attracted some of the most self-important actresses in the history of Broad... moreway. Laurette Taylor, Bette Davis, Talulah Bankhead, and the always self-important Miriam Hopkins were sheer hell to accommodate. From Ms Taylor showing up drunk for the opening night of The Glass Menagerie to Bette Davis frequent threats to quit The Night of the Iguana and the continuous whining of Bankhead and Hopkins, no wonder Williams abused drugs and alcohol. His position as America's preeminent dramatist is certainly enhanced by the stories masterfully told and integrated into the way he produce his impressive collection of plays.
review 2: (3.6/5.0) Biographies can get a lot worse than this, and Lahr is one of the best writers in The New Yorker's stable. In his introduction, he prides himself on departing from the standard chronology of Williams' life. And to a degree, Lahr does skitter around the timeline, slipping back to Williams' childhood and romantic history as he establishes the impetus for both the great early plays and the strange, desperate later ones. It's impeccably researched and there are a lot of fine excerpts from Williams' diaries, but considering its subject, Mad Pilgrimage could have been a lot more decadent and a lot more agonizing. Also, points deducted (or added??) for having the ugliest cover illustration of 2014. less

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