Context Flashcards
Tennessee Williams
1911-1983
Born in Mississippi (South)
Homosexual - illegal most of his life but in some places like New Orleans it was tolerated
Mother - southern Belle
Father - alcoholic travelling salesman
Sister Rose - mentally unstable, lobotomised and spent rest of life in institution
He was obsessed with death
Interested in progress of American history
Southern - saw it as broken and damaged but also somehow charming
Almost completely non political writer
Moved away from writing about political issues to mundane emotional burdens more than any other American writer
Loved a man like Stanley - love/hate - primitive
Old vs New American South
After Confederate states in American Civil War (1861-1865) defeated mythology around ‘Old South’ formed
Pre-Civil War South: graceful, civilised society superior to vulgar, materialistic Northern states
Based on enslavement of millions of black Americans
Post-Civil War South: suffered economically, creates an air of decay, industrialisation lead to rise in capitalism and urban growth whilst plantations decayed
Women on Old South - social and symbolic role, passive and chaste expectation
Southern Gothic
Southern writers - vivid imaginations, often bizarre or grotesque
Roots - dying culture, dashing and romantic founded on economy based on injustice and cruelty
World War II
1939-1945
Began writing play in 1945
First performed in 1947
Very little mention of war despite cataclysmic events due to it
American Dream
Rise with New South
Men were equal with equal opportunity despite background
Post modernism
Works produced post WWII (1945)
Many concerned with idea that whilst great leaps were being made in a variety of areas, man’s capacity for evil and destruction also continue growing
Break away from conventional traditions
Temporal distortion
Maximalism
Minimalism
Hyper reality
Pastiche - combination of difficulty genres
Fragmentation
Wants powerful male to be held to his mistakes by audience
