Tennessee Williams by Paul Ibell (review)

Paul Ibell's Tennessee Williams is a comprehensive survey of the American author as a playwright and novelist. Taking his cue from previously published biographies, Ibell documents close associations between Tennessee Williams's personal life and his written works. In each of the seven chapters, which are structured chronologically by decade, he offers a succinct analysis of Williams's writings and then juxtaposes his assessment with carefully selected biographical details. In chapter 1, "Early Life," he presents four examples from Williams's upbringing in St. Louis as sources of inspiration for the playwright's work: the instability of his parents' sexless marriage, his care for his sister and the guilt he felt for not being present to stop her lobotomy, the many people and experiences he encountered in school, and the environmental influence from various part-time jobs. Beyond the standard information about family and education often found in most biographies, the most compelling section of this chapter is Ibell's discussion of Williams's employment. He expertly demonstrates how Williams found inspiration while working as a movie house usher to create the settings for The Mysteries of the Joy Rio (1941), Hard Candy (1953), and the recently published These Are the Stairs You Gotta Watch.

Chapter 2, "The Later 1940s: A Streetcar to Success," includes a generic analysis of Williams's rise to fame with the professional triumph of The Glass Menagerie (1944) and the overwhelming reception of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). For readers unfamiliar with Williams's formative works, this chapter provides an adequate introduction to his two most successful plays and concentrates on his commonly accepted familial influences; the characters of Laura, Amanda, and Tom Wingfield are typically recognized as embodiments of the playwright's sister (Rose), his mother (Edwina), and Williams himself, respectively. Ibell also introduces the reader to recurring themes that habitually consume Williams's plays, including variations on sexual desire, stultifying family ties, and the frustrating effects of fading beauty. Beginning with Blanche Du-Bois in Streetcar, these motifs haunt most of Williams's subsequent characters.

Ibell establishes a historical thread in the development of Williams's professional achievements by continuing his chronology in chapter 3, "The 1950s: A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." He provides short summaries of Williams's critical successes, including The Rose Tattoo (1951), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Suddenly Last Summer (1958), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). The most engaging part of this chapter, however, is Ibell's overview of the lesser-known novel The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950). Closely based on Williams's intimate relationship with a young vagrant, Salvatore, who he met and cared for during his European travels, the novel reinforces his thematic preoccupation with sexual attraction and fading elegance through its depiction of an aging actress who falls in love with a younger man.

Chapter 4, "The 1960s: A Period of Adjustment," examines Williams's struggle with depression and the paralyzing effects of drug and alcohol abuse. Ibell suggests that Williams's last successful play was The Night of the Iguana (1961), which premiered two years before Frank Merlo, his life partner of more than fourteen years, died of lung cancer. Williams's grief over Merlo's death, combined with his growing addiction, resulted in multiple failed attempts to write another great play. Ibell analyzes two plays from this period as examples of Williams's struggle to find profitable connections between his life and his work. He discusses The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963) and its adaptation, along with other earlier plays, from stage to screen. He then examines the debate surrounding the inclusion of autobiographical details in In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel (1969), which portrays an American artist who, similar to Williams, suffers from sexual problems, alcoholism, and potential madness.

The most exciting revelations of the book appear in both chapter 5, "The 1970s: Small Craft Warnings," and chapter 6, "The 1980s: Steps Must Be Gentle," where Ibell introduces the reader to some of Williams...