The Glass Menagerie
Along with Arthur Miller , Williams is acknowledged as one of the two greatest American dramatists of the post-World War II era. His stature is based almost entirely upon works he completed during the first half of his career. He earned Pulitzer Prizes for A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards for The Glass Menagerie (1944), A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Night of the Iguana (1959). Williams ' lyrical style and his thematic concerns are distinctive in American theater; his material came almost exclusively from his inner life and was little influenced by other dramatists or by contemporary events. One critic noted, " Williams has remained aloof from trends in American drama, continuing to create plays out of the same basic neurotic conflicts in his own personality."
Download the Tennessee Williams biography from Literature Resource Center, available from the Los Angeles Public Library.
In His Own Words: