Collected Stories (A New Directions Book)

Rating:
Summary: For All Serious Readers of Comedy
Review: For a small price you get the best of Tennessee Williams with forty-nine stories packed into 570 pages of crisp oblique dialogue that will keep you awake at night as you laugh in bed with the turn of each page. His characters are so unusual that you can only describe them as cast of freeks that we all recognize at one time or another in our travels. Mr. Williams short stories are a wonderful contribution to his craft and the American reader. The only negative is that I could not buy this in hardcover so I could share it with my yet-to-be-born children and grandchildren!

Rating:
Summary: Review of "Collected Stories"
Review: I am amazed that Tennesse Williams Collected Stories has only received two reviews on amazon.com. Flip to "The Da Vinci Code" and there might be two thousand. What might possibly account for why such a wonderful collection has received so little attention?

There are three possible explanations: first, Williams was not only gay at a time when middle America was intolerant; he turned off many in the gay community by his portrayal of male homosexuals as somewhat doomed, incomplete, or powerless creatures. Second, Williams's women characters often come across as shrewish, emotionally weak, or stupid in order to make them funny. They are hysterically funny, but he relies on this type of characterization too much. Third: his short stories sometimes end leaving the reader feeling like the wrong note was played, either by mistake or because the author just ran out of fun writing it and wanted to rap up any old way. Either there is a false ring of sentiment or a forced pity for the main character that doesn't match the comic-realistic mood that had run from the beginning. The first and third explanations are unfair, but, how else can one explain his virtual ban?

I agree almost completely with the other two reviewers here: Williams was a superb short story writer, despite what the stiff and lordly Gore Vidal may say in the introduction: that Williams was not. I don't really know what that's about, except that Gore Vidal has always rubbed me the wrong way as a pompous authority on any subject that happens to flow out of his head.

I also agree that Williams is an ingeniously witty and gifted storyteller. Yes, you will laugh hard throughout many stories. My only real complaint is that some of the early works-- and I mean EARLY works; some written in his teens-- are just plain bad. "Big Black: A Mississippi Idyll" is grossly racist in tone. Trust me. I am not a politically correct person, but this story exploits almost every negative black stereotype. It is just plain ugly. "The Vengeance of Nitocris" is the product of a very young writer experimenting with his gift for language, nothing more. There are other early works that also didn't deliver for me. But what wonderful things were to follow. I'll leave them for you to discover.

I say this without apology to anyone: Williams at his best was as funny as Cheever, and understood the odd details and motivations of character better than anyone. He didn't tackle enormous themes, and he certainly did not write a great novel. But this collection represents a greatness of style and wit on par with his best plays.






Rating:
Summary: A Must Own
Review: Rarely do we assimilate Williams with short fiction, but Williams rivals Hemingway as being the greatest American short story writer. Never have I enjoyed every story in a collection before. His descriptions are concentrated and explode visions in the mind. The characters are richly unique and completely human and explore all the details of life so many never see. Good for a big time read, a partner on the beach, and as a study guide for society. A must own!!

Rating:
Summary: A Must Own
Review: Rarely do we assimilate Williams with short fiction, but Williams rivals Hemingway as being the greatest American short story writer. Never have I enjoyed every story in a collection before. His descriptions are concentrated and explode visions in the mind. The characters are richly unique and completely human and explore all the details of life so many never see. Good for a big time read, a partner on the beach, and as a study guide for society. A must own!!