Collected Stories

Tennessee Williams was famous for insisting he write every morning. Even during his darkest days, while mourning a lover, or abusing some substance — and he abused most of them at one time or another — he’d write. The stories in this volume, arranged chronologically, are from every period of his long life, and recreate the milieux Williams knew and chronicled so movingly — from his gypsy youth in St. Louis and New Orleans to his days of celebrity in Hollywood and New York. Some are studies for his plays, and like them, their language can suddenly surprise you with a poetic image that shines like a jewel. This edition includes a useful publishing history for each of the fifty stories.
“One overpowering impression emerges from all these stories put together: Tennessee Williams knew more about the hidden life of far-flung America than any of us really suspected.” — Seymour Krim, Washington Post Book World
“By turns disturbing, moving, and funny; these stories help amplify Williams’s tragic vision, for like the plays, they underline his preoccupation and insight into the conflicts of the human heart.”
— Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times