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The Night of the Iguana and Other Stories
Plano Nacional de Leitura Livro recomendado para a Formação de Adultos como sugestão de leitura. Tennessee Williams, conhecido como um dos mais prolixos e admiráveis dramaturgos deste século, também revelou o seu talento noutros géneros. Pelos contos, que seriam o ponto de partida para algumas das suas melhores peças, perpassam igualmente exuberância e intensidade. A Noite da Iguana e Outros Contos, livro que dará origem ao magnífico filme de John Huston, é disso exemplo. Foi traduzido por José Agostinho Baptista e é editado com uma apresentação do autor por Gore Vidal.
172 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1987
About the author
Tennessee Williams
763 books3,785 followersThomas 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.
Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
From Wikipedia
Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 8, 2025
There are voluptuous, indolent women, landscapes of the South of the United States and Mexico, twilight, and large houses with porches. In the three pieces / short stories presented in this collection, we find the favorite sets of Tennessee Williams. Having read them a long time ago already, I no longer remember precisely the plot, but there remain traces of these heavy, damp atmospheres in me, loaded with a hardly repressed desire. Moreover, the cover photo, which illustrates this edition, clearly announces these themes.
The Night of the Iguana is, of course, the most famous piece in the collection. But, despite that, I find this title intriguing.
But ultimately, it is the two following pieces / short stories will have marked me the most.
I liked the laziness of the dialogue, the descriptive annotations, and the atmosphere: " It is the beginning of the evening, and the sky is slightly tinted with pink by the twilight."
Jake's abrupt brutality also disappears as it comes. The dialogues render this moral and physical violence with force and realism. Jake twists Flora's wrist in this passage, threatening, just before imagining, amused, that he would eat her well if she were a beautiful all-white meringue.
The Night of the Iguana is, of course, the most famous piece in the collection. But, despite that, I find this title intriguing.
But ultimately, it is the two following pieces / short stories will have marked me the most.
I liked the laziness of the dialogue, the descriptive annotations, and the atmosphere: " It is the beginning of the evening, and the sky is slightly tinted with pink by the twilight."
Jake's abrupt brutality also disappears as it comes. The dialogues render this moral and physical violence with force and realism. Jake twists Flora's wrist in this passage, threatening, just before imagining, amused, that he would eat her well if she were a beautiful all-white meringue.
August 1, 2024
As palavras são uma rede de apanhar beleza.
“A Noite da Iguana e Outras Histórias” faz parte do meu espólio sagrado dos livros mais amados da juventude, razão pela qual adiei uma merecida e muito desejada releitura durante décadas. Não é uma força de expressão, foram praticamente três.
Tennessee Williams escreve como ninguém sobre os inadaptados, como tão bem podemos ver nas suas peças de teatro, e também nestes 9 contos soberbos criou um universo de párias, andarilhos, marginais e mulheres de nervos frágeis. Os meus contos preferidos são “A Noite da Iguana”, “Retrato de Uma Rapariga em Vidro” e “A Coisa Importante”, todos eles trespassados pela decadência, o isolamento, a tensão sexual e o homoerotismo, mas o mais arrebatador é sem dúvida “O Campo das Crianças Azuis”, onde a grau de nostalgia e a possibilidade de outro tipo de vida me fizeram engolir em seco.
Gosto muito das edições da Assírio & Alvim, sobretudo pelas folhas de rebordo colorido, mas não são as mais resistentes e o meu exemplar já mostra sinais de idade avançada. Sei que devia substituí-lo, mas já não seria o mesmo livro.
Um minuto é uma visão microscópica da eternidade.
“A Noite da Iguana e Outras Histórias” faz parte do meu espólio sagrado dos livros mais amados da juventude, razão pela qual adiei uma merecida e muito desejada releitura durante décadas. Não é uma força de expressão, foram praticamente três.
Tennessee Williams escreve como ninguém sobre os inadaptados, como tão bem podemos ver nas suas peças de teatro, e também nestes 9 contos soberbos criou um universo de párias, andarilhos, marginais e mulheres de nervos frágeis. Os meus contos preferidos são “A Noite da Iguana”, “Retrato de Uma Rapariga em Vidro” e “A Coisa Importante”, todos eles trespassados pela decadência, o isolamento, a tensão sexual e o homoerotismo, mas o mais arrebatador é sem dúvida “O Campo das Crianças Azuis”, onde a grau de nostalgia e a possibilidade de outro tipo de vida me fizeram engolir em seco.
Gosto muito das edições da Assírio & Alvim, sobretudo pelas folhas de rebordo colorido, mas não são as mais resistentes e o meu exemplar já mostra sinais de idade avançada. Sei que devia substituí-lo, mas já não seria o mesmo livro.
Um minuto é uma visão microscópica da eternidade.
November 23, 2019
My first acquaintance with Tennessee Williams was through the famed play The Glass Menagerie, which I read about three decades back. The tale about a crippled, introverted girl whose only world is the miniature glass animals she collects left a lasting impression on me. (I would have loved to see it on stage, but being in India, the chance was remote.) But even on the page, the dramatic potential was evident.
Williams's short stories handle themes similar to those that his plays do (in fact, many of his plays are developed from his stories). He writes about vulnerable, broken people left on the fringes of society. These are prostitutes, homosexuals, vagrants - generally unwanted people. They wander around the twilight world of sleazy bars and speakeasies and seedy rooming-houses, often selling themselves for the price of a bottle of booze. Even those who inhabit "respectable" society are flawed.
In this collection, Portrait of a Girl in Glass (the seed for The Glass Menagerie) metaphorically lays out Williams's universe: the sociophobic Laura in her room, caressing her glass collection, singing to herself and in love with a character in a novel; while a violent stray dog murders cats in the alley outside. This dichotomy is what governs the extremely fragile world of the characters that inhabit these stories. Ultimately, Laura's brother Tom (who narrates the tale) can only escape this world where there is no redemption.
Tennessee Williams was a homosexual in an era when it was a crime and a matter of shame - yet many of his characters are openly gay, and some of them are sex workers. In One Arm, a crippled male prostitute on death row pays back his former clients through an awakening of erotic feelings, something which he has never experienced while he was in the business. The pinnacle of his existence is a shared erotic experience with the preacher who comes to give him extreme unction. (This tale even has a disturbing undercurrent of bestiality.) In Two on a Party, we meet Billy and Cora, friends and sex workers, who ply the trade together and are sometimes lovers also, into the bargain. Here, on the dark underbelly of America, gender becomes very fluid. This ambivalence is expressed beautifully in The Important Thing, when John realises the truth about Flora:
The brother-sister relationship expressed so beautifully in Portrait of a Girl in Glass takes on troubled overtones in The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin, as both the siblings fall in love with the same boy. Here also, as in many of his other stories, death and love go hand in hand. In The Angel in the Alcove, sex is intimately tied up with a wasting disease like tuberculosis. This story flirts with fantasy - whereas two others, The Coming of Something to Widow Holly and The Yellow Bird, fully embrace it. We may see here the faint stirrings of something resembling magical realism: but to tell the truth, these fantasies are the weakest tales in the collection.
According to me, however, the most poignant tale in the collection is The Malediction: about Lucio, an American-Italian facing xenophobic ostracism in war-torn America. His only companion is the cat Nitchevo, abandoned by a Russian vagrant like himself. As the man and the animal try to subsist, society is merciless in its treatment of both. The story plumbs the deepest depths of despair as it hovers around Lucio, his jailed twin brother, his lascivious landlady, and the cat - and there is no redemption. Yet surprisingly, this dark tale uplifts one.
These stories written in flowery language, rich with colourful imagery and exploration of the nuances of human relationships, suffer from one cardinal fault - monotony. Williams's themes are limited, and so is his milieu. Reading all of them together is likely to prove a bit of a let-down. I believe these tales would be best taken in small doses.
Williams's short stories handle themes similar to those that his plays do (in fact, many of his plays are developed from his stories). He writes about vulnerable, broken people left on the fringes of society. These are prostitutes, homosexuals, vagrants - generally unwanted people. They wander around the twilight world of sleazy bars and speakeasies and seedy rooming-houses, often selling themselves for the price of a bottle of booze. Even those who inhabit "respectable" society are flawed.
In this collection, Portrait of a Girl in Glass (the seed for The Glass Menagerie) metaphorically lays out Williams's universe: the sociophobic Laura in her room, caressing her glass collection, singing to herself and in love with a character in a novel; while a violent stray dog murders cats in the alley outside. This dichotomy is what governs the extremely fragile world of the characters that inhabit these stories. Ultimately, Laura's brother Tom (who narrates the tale) can only escape this world where there is no redemption.
Tennessee Williams was a homosexual in an era when it was a crime and a matter of shame - yet many of his characters are openly gay, and some of them are sex workers. In One Arm, a crippled male prostitute on death row pays back his former clients through an awakening of erotic feelings, something which he has never experienced while he was in the business. The pinnacle of his existence is a shared erotic experience with the preacher who comes to give him extreme unction. (This tale even has a disturbing undercurrent of bestiality.) In Two on a Party, we meet Billy and Cora, friends and sex workers, who ply the trade together and are sometimes lovers also, into the bargain. Here, on the dark underbelly of America, gender becomes very fluid. This ambivalence is expressed beautifully in The Important Thing, when John realises the truth about Flora:
She was not like a girl. He wondered that he had never noticed before how anonymous was her gender, for this was the very central fact of her nature. She belonged nowhere, she fitted into no place at all, she had no home, no shell, no place of comfort or refuge, she was a fugitive with no place to run to.Sex is central to all these stories: straight, gay, lesbian - it does not matter. In The Night of the Iguana, a spinster finds herself between two gay men as her sexuality metaphorically expresses itself in the imprisoned iguana outside her hotel window. In Three Players of a Summer Game, the alcoholic Brick Pollitt, his wife, the widow of his doctor and her preteen daughter, along with the precocious narrator, explore various themes of underplayed sexuality as they play croquet. In The Field of Blue Children, a poem and a night among blue hollies in a field becomes the key to a girl's sexual awakening - and ultimately, its mundane resolution.
The brother-sister relationship expressed so beautifully in Portrait of a Girl in Glass takes on troubled overtones in The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin, as both the siblings fall in love with the same boy. Here also, as in many of his other stories, death and love go hand in hand. In The Angel in the Alcove, sex is intimately tied up with a wasting disease like tuberculosis. This story flirts with fantasy - whereas two others, The Coming of Something to Widow Holly and The Yellow Bird, fully embrace it. We may see here the faint stirrings of something resembling magical realism: but to tell the truth, these fantasies are the weakest tales in the collection.
According to me, however, the most poignant tale in the collection is The Malediction: about Lucio, an American-Italian facing xenophobic ostracism in war-torn America. His only companion is the cat Nitchevo, abandoned by a Russian vagrant like himself. As the man and the animal try to subsist, society is merciless in its treatment of both. The story plumbs the deepest depths of despair as it hovers around Lucio, his jailed twin brother, his lascivious landlady, and the cat - and there is no redemption. Yet surprisingly, this dark tale uplifts one.
These stories written in flowery language, rich with colourful imagery and exploration of the nuances of human relationships, suffer from one cardinal fault - monotony. Williams's themes are limited, and so is his milieu. Reading all of them together is likely to prove a bit of a let-down. I believe these tales would be best taken in small doses.
January 15, 2026
The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
Excellent
What a great play! And there is also a movie based on the work of Tennessee Williams.
All the characters are fascinating, except perhaps for the “pool boys”, who are torturing the iguana, albeit on orders from their boss.
Shannon is at the center of it all.
He is the rugged man, with plenty of vices and failures- perhaps we could even call him “loser” in some ways.
And yet he is the coveted prize that three women want, all the major female personages, including a supporting role.
Reverend Lawrence Shannon has been defrocked and ever since he had spoken out in a sermon that had offended people and got him out of the church, he works in the travel business.
At the beginning of the play, we meet Shannon as he is taking a group of women to the hotel run by his friend Maxine Faulk.
As a tour guide, he has managed to upset the leader, who is concerned by the relationship between Shannon and young Charlotte Goodall.
The fact is that the two have spent the previous night together, but Shannon is nearly 100% innocent, since the young woman had busted in his room.
Furthermore, she did not take no for an answer and insinuated herself into the bed of the former reverend.
Another central character is Maxine Faulk, who is now a widow, after her husband – Frank- had died a short while ago.
She is a very strong, determined, resilient and brave woman. She does come across as harsh and cold hearted at times.
Even more, she seems to be immoral and ruthless, at least when we hear how she had hired two Mexicans, who appear to act as gigolos. They had been brought at the hotel while Frank was alive.
The dead husband had not minded and the marriage had been a strange arrangement, with Frank an intriguing, if secondary personage.
Maxine wants Shannon to stay. Well, I am wrong- not just to stay, but to act as official replacement for Frank.
To the two women who want Shannon we must add a third, albeit more mysterious woman – Hannah Jelkes, played in the movie by Deborah Kerr.
Ava Gardner was Maxine and the wonderful Richard Burton played the sinful reverend.
Hannah Jelkes comes to the hotel with yet another worthy character – her grandfather, who is a poet. Maxine is annoyed by the presence of a rival
- Let Shannon alone, you think I did not see the energy going on between the two of you??
Maxine wants the woman painter and her poet grandfather to go to another pension in the town, where she makes arrangements.
Indeed, Hannah and her elderly relative are paupers; they have no more money after they had to buy a wheel chair.
But she is a proud and strong woman, making me wonder-
- Who is stronger, Maxine or Hannah?
On the face of it, Maxine would win, with her more brutish, unscrupulous ways.
But a woman ready to travel alone around the world, after having escorted and caring for a ninety seven year old man is to be reckoned with.
A wonderful play, with amazing characters.
Excellent
What a great play! And there is also a movie based on the work of Tennessee Williams.
All the characters are fascinating, except perhaps for the “pool boys”, who are torturing the iguana, albeit on orders from their boss.
Shannon is at the center of it all.
He is the rugged man, with plenty of vices and failures- perhaps we could even call him “loser” in some ways.
And yet he is the coveted prize that three women want, all the major female personages, including a supporting role.
Reverend Lawrence Shannon has been defrocked and ever since he had spoken out in a sermon that had offended people and got him out of the church, he works in the travel business.
At the beginning of the play, we meet Shannon as he is taking a group of women to the hotel run by his friend Maxine Faulk.
As a tour guide, he has managed to upset the leader, who is concerned by the relationship between Shannon and young Charlotte Goodall.
The fact is that the two have spent the previous night together, but Shannon is nearly 100% innocent, since the young woman had busted in his room.
Furthermore, she did not take no for an answer and insinuated herself into the bed of the former reverend.
Another central character is Maxine Faulk, who is now a widow, after her husband – Frank- had died a short while ago.
She is a very strong, determined, resilient and brave woman. She does come across as harsh and cold hearted at times.
Even more, she seems to be immoral and ruthless, at least when we hear how she had hired two Mexicans, who appear to act as gigolos. They had been brought at the hotel while Frank was alive.
The dead husband had not minded and the marriage had been a strange arrangement, with Frank an intriguing, if secondary personage.
Maxine wants Shannon to stay. Well, I am wrong- not just to stay, but to act as official replacement for Frank.
To the two women who want Shannon we must add a third, albeit more mysterious woman – Hannah Jelkes, played in the movie by Deborah Kerr.
Ava Gardner was Maxine and the wonderful Richard Burton played the sinful reverend.
Hannah Jelkes comes to the hotel with yet another worthy character – her grandfather, who is a poet. Maxine is annoyed by the presence of a rival
- Let Shannon alone, you think I did not see the energy going on between the two of you??
Maxine wants the woman painter and her poet grandfather to go to another pension in the town, where she makes arrangements.
Indeed, Hannah and her elderly relative are paupers; they have no more money after they had to buy a wheel chair.
But she is a proud and strong woman, making me wonder-
- Who is stronger, Maxine or Hannah?
On the face of it, Maxine would win, with her more brutish, unscrupulous ways.
But a woman ready to travel alone around the world, after having escorted and caring for a ninety seven year old man is to be reckoned with.
A wonderful play, with amazing characters.
January 30, 2021
Este libro de relatos de Tennessee Williams es una caja de sorpresas, cada relato es un mundo independiente y aún así tiene un delgado hilo conductor que se manifiesta ya sea con un deja vu entre personajes, la repetición de alguna constante e inclusive evocaciones echas en uno que resuenan en otro.
Aunque todos son de una calidad de primera, hablare de los 3 que me gustaron más:
Algo de Tolstoi: es un relato algo distinto a los otros debido su claridad, dos tórtolos de distintas religiones se aman tanto que se casan aún cuando tienen diferencias más grandes que la religión, esas diferencias se manifiestan pronto, ella es ambiciosa, segura de sí misma, el es reposado, no le gustan los cambios y le gusta hacerse cargo de la modesta librería que le dejó su padre, pasa lo lógico, y el parece haberse detenido en una espera sin fin, solo rota en un instante, pero al pasar ese instante, él vuelve a su espera sin fin, un relato triste y bello.
Retrato de una chica de cristal, es un relato que tiene muchos tintes autobiográficos que se notan aún sin que conocieras la vida del autor, está escrito con una dulzura y sinceridad que avasallan, vas embargándote de un sentimiento lleno de cosas delicadas y una nostalgia por aquello bello y efímero que no pertenece a este mundo ordinario y cruel, el protagonista es un poeta que trabaja en un almacén, vive con su madre y su hermana en una casita llena de estrecheces económicas. El es como un espectador, y la hermana es como la heroina de un cuento que nunca se escribió. De todo el libro es mi favorito.
La noche de la iguana, es un relato más crudo, que tiene el mejor escenario, una playa húmeda, tropical y calurosa de Mexico, en un hotel conviven sin quererlo unos huéspedes que son opuestos, una pareja de amigos que se divierte, y una solterona de 30 años que nunca ha conocido el amor o lo más parecido a ese sentimiento. Esto logra una mezcla de humores y comportamientos que en otro ambiente no se daría, el relato es osado pero al mismo tiempo es inocente, lleno de contradicciones, lleno de opuestos, que se enfrentan, colisionan, y dejan los pedazos rotos.
Aunque todos son de una calidad de primera, hablare de los 3 que me gustaron más:
Algo de Tolstoi: es un relato algo distinto a los otros debido su claridad, dos tórtolos de distintas religiones se aman tanto que se casan aún cuando tienen diferencias más grandes que la religión, esas diferencias se manifiestan pronto, ella es ambiciosa, segura de sí misma, el es reposado, no le gustan los cambios y le gusta hacerse cargo de la modesta librería que le dejó su padre, pasa lo lógico, y el parece haberse detenido en una espera sin fin, solo rota en un instante, pero al pasar ese instante, él vuelve a su espera sin fin, un relato triste y bello.
Retrato de una chica de cristal, es un relato que tiene muchos tintes autobiográficos que se notan aún sin que conocieras la vida del autor, está escrito con una dulzura y sinceridad que avasallan, vas embargándote de un sentimiento lleno de cosas delicadas y una nostalgia por aquello bello y efímero que no pertenece a este mundo ordinario y cruel, el protagonista es un poeta que trabaja en un almacén, vive con su madre y su hermana en una casita llena de estrecheces económicas. El es como un espectador, y la hermana es como la heroina de un cuento que nunca se escribió. De todo el libro es mi favorito.
La noche de la iguana, es un relato más crudo, que tiene el mejor escenario, una playa húmeda, tropical y calurosa de Mexico, en un hotel conviven sin quererlo unos huéspedes que son opuestos, una pareja de amigos que se divierte, y una solterona de 30 años que nunca ha conocido el amor o lo más parecido a ese sentimiento. Esto logra una mezcla de humores y comportamientos que en otro ambiente no se daría, el relato es osado pero al mismo tiempo es inocente, lleno de contradicciones, lleno de opuestos, que se enfrentan, colisionan, y dejan los pedazos rotos.
April 12, 2026
Dos vários contos aqui incluídos, talvez apenas O pássaro amarelo e A festa não estejam ao nível dos outros.
O mutilado e A coisa importante é do melhor que li em contos. O campo das crianças azuis é também sagrado.
Belíssimo, comovente, até um pouco assustador. Parece que, na vida, passamos por momentos destes.
As personagens vulneráveis ( como a Blanche do Eléctrico..., ou o Holden Caulfield do Salinger, são muito caras a Williams e as que mais têm que ver comigo).
O mutilado e A coisa importante é do melhor que li em contos. O campo das crianças azuis é também sagrado.
Belíssimo, comovente, até um pouco assustador. Parece que, na vida, passamos por momentos destes.
As personagens vulneráveis ( como a Blanche do Eléctrico..., ou o Holden Caulfield do Salinger, são muito caras a Williams e as que mais têm que ver comigo).
June 8, 2016
Describe con agudeza y sentido crítico, la sociedad americana posmoderna. Me recuerda mucho a la narrativa de ficción de Capote, aunque más desencantado.
En los relatos destaca la marginalidad característica de los narradores americanos de mediados del siglo XX, además de crear en cada cuento un contraste entre el desvalimiento del ser humano frente a la sociedad, muchas veces aplastante.
Describe de forma astuta y original los sentimientos de personajes que responden a arquetipos sociales, un buen ejemplo es la protagonista del cuento que da el nombre al libro "la noche de la iguana".
En los relatos destaca la marginalidad característica de los narradores americanos de mediados del siglo XX, además de crear en cada cuento un contraste entre el desvalimiento del ser humano frente a la sociedad, muchas veces aplastante.
Describe de forma astuta y original los sentimientos de personajes que responden a arquetipos sociales, un buen ejemplo es la protagonista del cuento que da el nombre al libro "la noche de la iguana".
May 1, 2020
A very good book of short stories. Some are, of course, better than others, but Williams' mastery will make you feel touched by at least one. Creative and different, "The Night of The Iguana and Other Stories" is brought to life by the author's finesse in wordcraft. Decidedly above average and worth the read.
May 8, 2017
One of my all-time favorites that now that I live in Florida, I'm revisiting with added meaning.
April 18, 2019
I simply love Tennessee Williams!
June 17, 2021
I only knew Williams' work through films of his plays, but I thought the short stories in this selection turned out to be proof enough that he was one of the 20th-century's finest writers.
The title story was a surprise as the focus is entirely on the character portrayed by Deborah Kerr in the film, while the Richard Burton character is not even present. I felt I understood the film better as a result.
All of the stories were strong, but I especially appreciated those concerning characters living on the fringes of society, and the other highlights for me were:
'Three Players of a Summer Game', which features a man-who-has-everything type who throws it all away and destroys himself with booze.
'One Arm', about a young sailor who loses an arm and becomes a male prostitute.
'Two on a Party', which concerns a friendship between a gay man and a heterosexual woman who spend their lives picking up strangers in bars.
'The Malediction', a sort of love story between a man and a cat, but there's so much more to it as well. Easily one of the best short stories I've ever read, and very moving.
As a result of reading this collection, I'll certainly be getting a copy of Williams' Collected Stories and I'm also keen to read his memoirs.
The title story was a surprise as the focus is entirely on the character portrayed by Deborah Kerr in the film, while the Richard Burton character is not even present. I felt I understood the film better as a result.
All of the stories were strong, but I especially appreciated those concerning characters living on the fringes of society, and the other highlights for me were:
'Three Players of a Summer Game', which features a man-who-has-everything type who throws it all away and destroys himself with booze.
'One Arm', about a young sailor who loses an arm and becomes a male prostitute.
'Two on a Party', which concerns a friendship between a gay man and a heterosexual woman who spend their lives picking up strangers in bars.
'The Malediction', a sort of love story between a man and a cat, but there's so much more to it as well. Easily one of the best short stories I've ever read, and very moving.
As a result of reading this collection, I'll certainly be getting a copy of Williams' Collected Stories and I'm also keen to read his memoirs.
December 13, 2023
Nunca había leido un libro de este autor y para ser la primera vez que lo hago, debo admitir que lo disfruté bastante y me gustó mucho. Aunque, siendo sincero, dejé dos o tres cuentos sin leer, ya que me parecieron demasiado tediosos y demasiado descriptivos. La historia no avanzaba nunca y me dio lata continuar esas lecturas. Pero dejando de lado ese detalle, el resto de los cuentos me gustaron muchísimo. E incluso algunos se han convertido en favoritos. Tal como Algo de Tolstoi, donde el hijo del dueño de una librería se enamora de una mujer que lo abandona de un día para otro. O La habitación a oscuras, cuento en el que una chica está encerrada en su dormitorio las 24 horas del dia con la luz apagada y nadie puede sacarla de ahí. También disfruté caleta la lectura de Arena, donde un matrimonio encerrado en la rutina se abstrae con un álbum de fotos antiguo. Y la noche de la iguana, el cuento que le entrega el título al libro, y donde unos hombres aburridos y maliciosos atan una iguana a la cabaña o habitación de una mujer y no quieren desatarla.
Las historias de este autor son interesantes, divertidas y contienen cierta melancolía y angustia. Me recordó un poco a Raymond Carver, por los relatos tan humanos y reales y que te dejan como un vacío en la guata.
Las historias de este autor son interesantes, divertidas y contienen cierta melancolía y angustia. Me recordó un poco a Raymond Carver, por los relatos tan humanos y reales y que te dejan como un vacío en la guata.
April 6, 2025
Tennessee Williams es un dramaturgo famoso del cine norteamericano de mediados de siglo xx. Pero descubrir su obra en prosa ha sido un agradable descubrimiento.
“La noche de la iguana y otros relatos” reúne varios cuentos de los que después nacerían las obras de teatro más famosas del autor.
“Algo de tolstoi” sin duda, me resultó el mejor de todos. Un cuento muy lindo.
La mayoría hablan sobre relaciones extrañas, raras, interesantes. Amores extraños, intensos, dormidos, todo una introducción al gótico sureño, al América profunda.
En conclusión, no encontrarás aquí una prosa elegante, imponente, poética o magistral; no, pero si un estilo sincero, directo y muy cautivador. Sabe que temas llaman la atención y encaja el dedo ahí.
Recomendado para pasar buen rato leyendo cuentos cortitos y agradables. Recomendados
“La noche de la iguana y otros relatos” reúne varios cuentos de los que después nacerían las obras de teatro más famosas del autor.
“Algo de tolstoi” sin duda, me resultó el mejor de todos. Un cuento muy lindo.
La mayoría hablan sobre relaciones extrañas, raras, interesantes. Amores extraños, intensos, dormidos, todo una introducción al gótico sureño, al América profunda.
En conclusión, no encontrarás aquí una prosa elegante, imponente, poética o magistral; no, pero si un estilo sincero, directo y muy cautivador. Sabe que temas llaman la atención y encaja el dedo ahí.
Recomendado para pasar buen rato leyendo cuentos cortitos y agradables. Recomendados
March 1, 2025
Interesante colección de relatos, algo irregular para mi gusto. Toda una mitología del sur de USA (que he importado culturalmente) se muestra aquí, el sol, el alcohol, la frontera, la sexualidad descarnada. Hay personajes inocentes y depravados, sencillos y atormentados, en general excéntricos y perdedores. La prosa es vigorosa y la ambientación es buena. El problema para mí es que varios relatos no logran captar una gran atención y se hacen repetitivos en el cliché. Otros son bastante buenos.
June 22, 2018
For a short story book, has, of course, some better than others. For me all of them were at least good. My favorite is the last one, "Society of two". The only one I read in a few hours.
It's an interesting book to be readed in vacations or late at night when we want to get some rest from all the digital world.
Recommended without a doubt.
It's an interesting book to be readed in vacations or late at night when we want to get some rest from all the digital world.
Recommended without a doubt.
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October 21, 2020It was fun revising this beloved story from Mr. Williams. It brought back memories of the first time I read it and gave me nuggets of new things I realized with a refined perspective of the person I am now as opposed to who I was when I first read it.
June 25, 2023
"—Ahora mismo te lo diré… ¡Lo importante no es absurdo!
—¿Y qué es lo importante? —preguntó John.
—Todavía no lo sé —dijo Flora—. ¿Para qué crees que vivo, a no ser para descubrir qué es lo importante?"
—¿Y qué es lo importante? —preguntó John.
—Todavía no lo sé —dijo Flora—. ¿Para qué crees que vivo, a no ser para descubrir qué es lo importante?"
July 23, 2020
I didn't enjoy this at all. Most of the stories made no sense whatever. Some of the language play was interesting.
March 22, 2023
3.5
A Noite da Iguana, A Festa e A Maldição foram os melhores
A Noite da Iguana, A Festa e A Maldição foram os melhores
April 12, 2026
Contos brilhantes, como só uma mente aberta poderia fazer. Rara sensibilidade no tratamento das personagens.
March 19, 2009
The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams (1961)
September 15, 2009
Good lord he liked his words! Paragraphs that run on for pages aren't really my thing, and I'm glad that most of the stories were pretty short.
August 22, 2011
Relatos audaces que presagian las - viejas - obsesiones del futuro.
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