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Collected Stories

by Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal (Introduction)

4.25 · rating details · 240 ratings · 32 reviews

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 —...more

Paperback, 602 pages

Published April 1st 1994 by New Directions Publishing Corporation (first published 1985)

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Three by Tennessee by Tennessee Williams

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Name of State (USA): T-W

49th out of 133 books — 6 voters

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

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Books by New Orleans Authors

25th out of 64 books — 6 voters

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Community Reviews

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Dec 02, 2009

Ilana rated it

It was a bunch of short stories written by Tennessee Williams. The main conflict in this book is loneliness because everyone in the short story has something missing in their life. This one story was about how this guy who is very hungary finds an apple and just focuses his whole life around that one apple which I thought was really cool and interesting of the author to write like that.

I can connect this book to anyone's sad and miserable and boring life. Because life can give you a ...more

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Feb 01, 2012

Vanessa Richardson rated it

I am going through a Paul Newman phase in my Netflix queue, so watching "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Sweet Bird of Youth" made me think about Tennessee Williams, his life and what inspired him to write the plays he did. I didn't realize he wrote short stories, but many were the basis for his most famous plays. The first story in here he wrote when he was age 17, the last he did a year before he died. The book begins with a great mini-memoir of his youth; he writes how his dep...more

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Dec 13, 2010

Marija rated it

Shelves: modern-classics, short-stories

Counting Tennessee Williams’ preface, this collection contains 50 stories, some of which serve as precursors to several of Williams’ plays. When comparing the two, in essence, I do prefer the style of his plays to that of these stories. The stories are more explicit and uncensored, graphically depicting the harshness and ugliness of life. At times, they made me feel as if I was looking at a piece of expressionistic art or listening to a piece of expressionistic music… picture being trapped in a ...moreCounting Tennessee Williams’ preface, this collection contains 50 stories, some of which serve as precursors to several of Williams’ plays. When comparing the two, in essence, I do prefer the style of his plays to that of these stories. The stories are more explicit and uncensored, graphically depicting the harshness and ugliness of life. At times, they made me feel as if I was looking at a piece of expressionistic art or listening to a piece of expressionistic music… picture being trapped in a room staring at a work of Edvard Munch (I’m particularly thinking of The Scream) paired with listening to the atonal discordant chords of an Aronld Schoenberg piece.

Looking at the stories as a whole, it almost becomes an exercise that provides a glimpse into an author’s writing process. A lot of these stories are variations of the same theme… Williams rewriting the same story over and over again, each time exposing more of society’s harsh realities—how over time, the stories become more naked, raw and sordid in their portrayals. The stories “The Mysteries of the Joy Rio” and “Hard Candy” are a good example. Essentially, both are the same story down to the setting, the situation and the conclusion. But picking the stories apart, they’re definitely different. “Hard Candy” is the darker story in tone, depicting desire as a needy fix. It’s more brutal and cruel.

Other stories were so brutal and cruel they left me with such a creepy feeling afterwards that I had to abandon the collection for long stretches of time. In particular, “The Inventory at Fontana Bella,” which is a little too macabre and perverse for my sensibilities and “Desire and the Black Masseur,” which I think is one of the worst stories I’ve ever read, with its mixture of sadism, masochism and cannibalism. I was surprised this latter story was published in one of his early collections. The themes Williams describes actually fall more in place with his later works published during the latter part of his career, namely “Mother Yaws” and “The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen.”

It was interesting to see the early drafts of his plays/screenplays in these stories. Some were quite good, like “Twenty-seven Wagons Full of Cotton,” the basis for Baby Doll and “Three Players of a Summer Game,” the basis for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Others, in my opinion though fine, are not as good as their play counterparts, namely “The Night of the Iguana”—which is missing the slightly amusing interactive chemistry between Rev. Shannon and Maxine which I love. On the whole though, I prefer Williams’ plays to his short stories because of their subtle suggestive nature. I actually think Williams says more through his use of suggestion than through that forceful, explicit and harsh tone he uses in the majority of the stories.

I think the best stories in the collection are the autobiographical ones: “The Man in the Overstuffed Chair” (about Williams’ father) “Portrait of a Girl in Glass” (about his sister and basis for The Glass Menagerie) and “The Resemblance between a Violin Case and a Coffin.” For me, they evoked the clearest images in my mind’s eye—images that are long lasting—looking back from reading them three months ago.

One story in particular I think needs a special mention is “Something by Tolstoi.” It’s the one story in the collection that stands alone and has it’s own particular voice that’s truly unlike Williams’ more traditional Southern style of writing. Perhaps I consider it as one of the best because with its ironic ending it’s reminiscent of those 19th Century novels I love so much.

As a side note: I paired this collection with Gore Vidal’s collection of short stories titled, Clouds and Eclipses: The Collected Short Stories. Looking at the collections together, the similarities in the writing styles and the images that are evoked are striking. I couldn’t believe the number of déjà vu moments I had. (e.g. Consider the description of Helen and her Xmas card in Vidal’s “Pages from an Abandoned Journal” and the description of Sue’s Xmas card in “The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen” in this collection. ) Interestingly, the Williams stories where I noticed the similarities were written and published well after Vidal’s stories.
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Jul 05, 2008

Ollie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: queer pulp fiction afficionados

Recommended to Ollie by: my street's bookclub group

Either Tennessee Williams was a very unhappy gay man or he had a terrible opinion of queer life. His stories reflect a time in America when "perversion" was the first word that popped into people's minds when the idea of two men loving each other came up. To allow yourself the love of a beautiful man was equal to losing innocence and turning into a monster. A happy end was impossible, unthinkable. A whole underworld, lit like a pulp novel scene, ties these stories together: drunks ...more

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Jan 16, 2009

Gbeab rated it

Why does anyone ever put this collection down? I've picked it back up, yawning (but not giving up) over the volcano book. But there's even a connection between Lowry and 10 and it's Mexico. But that is the only connection. Ten writes so well. o-me-lord.

What can I possibly add? Oriflamme and Portrait of a Girl in Glass are two versions of history for Laura Wingfield; yet Williams reflects on two like-stories in his Memoirs, briefly, related to his sister Rose. Heartbreaking threads; t...more

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Jul 08, 2010

Cynthia rated it

I'm having a thing with Williams this summer, having nothing to do with his plays. These is the complete collection, so some are great and some are solid stories by a great author. Good or great, I'm always dragged into the pathos of the characters and willing to follow them into whatever house with the screen door slamming behind.

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Jul 07, 2010

Erica rated it

Shelves: school

This is a collection of many of Williams short stories. The thing I really like about Williams is the way he constructs these stories and then revisits them later in other short stories or makes them into plays. He is constantly re-visioning his own works and focusing on new aspects of the same story/characters. I haven't read all the short stories yet, but I am finished with the course. I imagine I might actually come back and read more of them later!

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Mar 04, 2009

Janet rated it

The short stories of my favorite playwright, a roundup of his romantic losers, desperately clinging to illusion in difficult circumstances. Sound like anyone we know?

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Jun 17, 2010

Elise marked it as to-read

I bought a paperback of this book when I was a senior in high school--that was twenty years ago--and I still have it on my bookshelf. I pull it out to read whenever I'm in need of a little inspiration for my own writing. Tennessee was a master of characterization and largely plotless stories (was there really anything interesting happening in "A Streetcar Named Desire" besides the delicious tension between Stanley and Stella?). He'll always be one of my favorites.

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Aug 20, 2009

Jo Ella rated it

One of the best collections ever put down on paper....

From the twisted to lonliness, to the crazy to the sadness, Williams, without a doubt, is the best writer ever.

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Oct 14, 2008

E. rated it

This book is stellar. It's amazing to see someone grow in the realm of "fiction". Obviously, Tee Dubs uses his own life as a back drop and reference point in almost everything. In his early work he references his family life and his crazy old maid sister.After the rough drafts of some of his better known plays you can see the point where he can divulge about his own sexuality and life as a celebrity. Gay men with gentleman style and southern accents. Holy shit. My favorite story in her...more

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Dec 07, 2009

Paul is currently reading it

Last stories written - The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen - wild!

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Jan 10, 2009

Ann M rated it

Shelves: fiction-stories-plays

Liked this collection, tho it was uneven.

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Jul 10, 2009

Jesse marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: on-our-bookshelf

Yes Rebecca, I know.

:P

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Jul 12, 2008

Muna rated it

As way of introduction, my first best friend gave me a copy of this book when she saw me reading "Catch-22". That was almost forever ago and I still think it's one of the best short story collections I've ever read. Much better than his plays, which set a high standard.

The depths of TW's imaginations and observations are incredible here. Try starting with "Desire and the Black Masseur" and you'll begin to understand the dark dark south.

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Jan 09, 2010

David rated it

Williams's best technique as far as I'm concerned has to be how much emotion he arranged in the details. The description is meticulously chosen to correspond to what is going on for a character or in their mind. Great characters, too. Williams's really knew what was going on inside his characters' minds. These stories show a very interesting range of emotion, plot, and character.

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Jul 03, 2007

Simon A. Smith rated it

Recommends it for: Human-condition-peekers

Shelves: favorites, plays, short-fiction

Williams has a knack for plumbing the richest depths of human longing. An absolutely orginal voice in American drama. He often warmed up for his plays by writing short stories and one of the stories here, "Three Players of A Summer's Game," a precursor to his famous "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," is alone worth the price of this stellar collection.

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Jul 02, 2008

Chandra rated it

Shelves: classics, favorites, short-stories

I went through a short story phase in my early twenties. (I think I just had a short attention span) During that time I found that one of my favorite playwrights was also a short story writer. All of the stories are mostly melancholy and tragic, but they were all well written and absorbing.

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Jun 08, 2007

Alvin rated it

So America's greatest playwright was also it's greatest short story writer. Who knew? These tales are heart-breaking, funny, thought provoking, and stylish. Don't walk but RUN to your nearest bookstore, purchase this book, call in sick to work, and sit down to read. You won't be sorry.

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Aug 31, 2007

Clint rated it

I had never read anything by Tennessee Williams before this because I hate plays, but these stories are very very good. They are in chronological order, and just tend to get better and better. Weird, sad, funny, sick.

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Mar 21, 2008

minervasowl marked it as to-read

Tennessee Williams is one of the gaping holes in my literary education. I think that about the only thing I have read by him is the Glass Menagerie, which I have actually read more than once.

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Jul 22, 2008

Matt Charley rated it

Interesting collection of short stories. From lost loves to twists and turns, Williams continually keeps the reader involved and interested.

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Oct 22, 2008

beth rated it

Shelves: southern-writers

Especially interesting to those who know his plays will be "Portrait of a Girl in Glass" and "Three Players of a Summer Game".

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Feb 27, 2009

James rated it

I been reading this on and off all year. wow, tennessee was kinda freaky. especially ' desire and the black masseur '.
I had no idea.

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Jul 25, 2008

Maureen rated it

More Tennessee. More awkwardness. More dashed hopes. More social awkwardness and inwardness. And, yes, more incest.

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Feb 08, 2008

Lance rated it

His stories are stunning to say the least. I felt more human at times just for reading these gems.

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Apr 13, 2011

nathan added it

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Nov 09, 2008

matt rated it

Shelves: america-f-k-yeah, miniature, fictions-of-the-big-it

"Something By Tolstoy" is one of the best short stories I have ever read.

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Aug 25, 2007

Katelyn rated it

Especially: The Important Thing and The Accent of a Coming Foot

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Jun 09, 2007

Joe marked it as to-read

Recommends it for: Theatre lovers/Southern pride

I'm working slowly on this huge book of great stories.

· see review

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About Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot...moreThomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. In addition, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and The Night of the Iguana (1961) received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo (dedicated to his lover, Frank Merlo), received the Tony Award for best play.

Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members. Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was understood to be modeled on Rose. Some biographers believed that the character of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is also based on her.

Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie was generally seen to represent Williams' mother, Edwina. Characters such as Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and Sebastian in Suddenly, Last Summer were understood to represent Williams himself. In addition, he used a lobotomy operation as a motif in Suddenly, Last Summer.

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was awarded to A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. These two plays were later filmed, with great success, by noted directors Elia Kazan (Streetcar) with whom Williams developed a very close artistic relationship, and Richard Brooks (Cat). Both plays included references to elements of Williams' life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism. Although The Flowering Peach by Clifford Odets was the preferred choice of the Pulitzer Prize jury in 1955 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was at first considered the weakest of the five shortlisted nominees, Joseph Pulitzer Jr., chairman of the Board, had seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and thought it worthy of the drama prize. The Board went along with him after considerable discussion.[18]

Williams wrote The Parade, or Approaching the End of a Summer when he was 29 and worked on it sporadically throughout his life. A semi-autobiographical depiction of his 1940 romance with Kip Kiernan in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it was produced for the first time on October 1, 2006 in Provincetown by the Shakespeare on the Cape production company, as part of the First Annual Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.

Other works by Williams include Camino Real and Sweet Bird of Youth.

His last play went through many drafts as he was trying to reconcile what would be the end of his life.[14] There are many versions of it, but it is referred to as In Masks Outrageous and Austere.(less)

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“These are the intensities that one cannot live with, that he has to outgrow if he wants to survive. But who can help grieving for them? If the blood vessels could hold them, how much better to keep those early loves with us?
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“I saw that it was all over, put away in a box like a doll no longer cared for, the magical intimacy of our childhood together” — 15 people liked it

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