The Glass Menagerie - STUDENT EDITION with Commentary & Notes

The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams' first great popular success and an autobiographical play about his mother and sister, launched the brilliant and controversial career of this ground-breaking American playwright

Set in St Louis during the depression era of the 1930s, it is the poignant drama of a family's gradual disintegration, under pressure both from outside and within. A frustrated mother persuades her rebellious son to provide a 'gentleman caller' for her shy, crippled daughter, but her romantic dreams are shattered by the intervention of harsh reality

This edition provides the author's preferred text, available for the first time in the United Kingdom, and includes Williams' essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, 'The Catastrophe of Success', as well as a short section of Williams' own production notes

Student Editions are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of plays from the modern and classic repertoires

As well as the complete text of the play itself, the volume contains a chronology of the playwright's life and work; an introduction giving the background to the play; a discussion of the various interpretations; and notes on individual words and phrases in the text
9780413745200