Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151809 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 856 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This magnificent tome is a treasure trove for Williams scholars and fans. Independent scholar Thornton not only tracked down Williams's early short stories and poems but often presents photo reproductions of the original manuscripts. A talented sleuth, Thornton cross-checks journal entries with letters Williams wrote to friends, offers minibiographies of people mentioned in the journals and has found photos of most of the cast of characters at the time they were in touch with Williams. Her detective work is fully one half of this massive book. (Williams's journal entries, from 1936 to 1958 and 1979 to 1981 run on the right-hand pages opposite Thornton's annotations.) As the playwright, according to Thornton, "modulated his tone and style to suit the recipient" of his voluminous correspondence, his journal reveals his authentic voice. These entries primarily showcase the budding artist who was plagued with insecurities, increasing drug dependency and an equally destructive addiction to celebrity, but his loyalty to his work remained so strong that he was still able to write The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof all between 1945 and 1955—the period that reflects the bulk of these notebooks.. Williams's dramatic life may be familiar to many, but thanks to Thornton's superb scholarship, his interior conflicts, motivations and drive are at last revealed. Photos. (Jan. 30)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The greatest American playwright? Regardless of one's personal thoughts on his ultimate ranking, Tennessee Williams was inarguably great. For the first time, and for dedicated aficionados of his work, his complete journals are now being published. Kept during his adult life, from 1936 (at age 25) to 1981 (two years before his death at 71), his journals were scribbled by pencil into a series of ordinary spiral-bound notebooks, but what they contain is not ordinary. These entries are Williams unvarnished; his voice and views are not rehearsed, second-guessed, or even polished. He is honest about his life and lifestyle, from his overnervous stomach to his sexual exploits to the places to which he traveled. When opened at any page, the book displays annotations, which have been carefully and energetically written, on the left-hand side; the journal entries themselves appear on the right side. The fact is that a large degree of the pleasure of the book derives from the enjoyment of reading these extraordinarily riveting annotations. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Here we have Tennessee Williams on and about Tennessee Williams, more revealing even than the Letters and sometimes more vulnerable than in the Memoirs. Thornton has supplied a masterfully edited, copiously annotated, and lavishly illustrated edition that is invaluable for scholars and Williams fans worldwide."-Philip C. Kolin, University of Southern Mississippi (Philip C. Kolin )

"A sound and solid record of an artist''s intimate mind and heart-and while personal, the Notebooks offer new insight into the cognitive patterns, cultural context, and physical life of one of the twentieth century''s most important writers. I was profoundly moved by this privileged glimpse at Tennessee Williams'' life and mind."-Ron Carlson, Director of Creative Writing, University of California at Irvine (Ron Carlson )

"Of the more than one hundred books written about Tennessee Williams since his death, his own book, the Notebooks, is unique. It records the innermost feelings of America''s greatest playwright from youth to old age, as jotted down by the playwright himself."-Allean Hale, Krannert Theatre, University of Illinois-Urbana (Allean Hale )

"The Notebooks take us on a harrowing journey, and we come to know Williams the person very intimately, in the way he quite pitilessly knew himself. Reading them is like reading Van Gogh''s letters or the diary of Nijinsky: the art arises from great pain that elicits pity and terror for the artist and lets us understand the uniqueness of his creations more subtly and intuitively."-Brian Parker, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto (Brian Parker )

"These notebooks-partial as they are-will help clarify the creative and psychological highs and lows which both sustained and buffeted Tennessee Williams throughout his extraordinary life."-Edward Albee (Edward Albee )

"Margaret Thornton has done something that would have delighted Tennessee Williams. She has served up his revealing notebooks with so rich of a mix of additional material and notations that the result is almost a new literary genre: a mix of diary, biography, autobiography, scrapbooks, and documentary history. It is addictive, and it bares Williams''s soul."-Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (Walter Isaacson )

Customer Reviews

A Brilliant Mind
Thornton, Margaret Bradham, ed. "Tennessee Williams Notebooks", Yale University Press, 2007.

A Brilliant Mind

Amos Lassen

What a job it must have been compiling the notebooks of Tennessee Williams. They cover almost every aspect of the playwright's life and Margaret Bradham Thornton has done an amazing job. Through his own words and Thornton's meticulous editing, we get a look into the unique life of an American literary titan. The man who penned such beautiful works for the American theatre led quite a life. He suffered from his only internalized homophobia even though he was himself a gay male--he felt somewhat out of place in a world that did not approve of his sexuality. He was haunted by his sister, Rose, and the guilt he felt about allowing her institutionalization and with these two strikes that he felt he had against himself, still managed to write some of the most endearing drama ever seen on the stage.
Williams' notebooks take us behind the scenes of the man and his writing. Williams tells us, in his own words, so much about himself that at times it is staggering to read. His view of the world fascinates and enthralls.
In reality, this is two books--one, a look at the man's private life and the other a look at the mind of a genius. Thornton provides on each page. The thoughts and the background to those thoughts placed opposite the pages of his journals. To get a glimpse of the mind of such a man of letters is a wonderful treat. The book is filled with notes and photographs, copies of poetry written by hand and entries from the diaries as well as biographies of those people that Williams had contact with. On the right hand side of the book are the notebook entries and on the left hand side are the notes. Also included are Williams' own criticisms of his dairies.
Thornton provides a very readable and detailed narrative and her research is nothing short of amazing. She does not spend a great deal of time oh is sexual proclivities with other men but neither does she ignore them. There is no question whatsoever that Williams' homosexuality influenced his writing and world view and that is all carefully explained by the editor. It is a book that you do not want to stop reading even with its 800 plus pages. And it is more than just a look at the playwright; it is a look into American culture and how all of the worlds of the arts come together.

Diary of a Horny Artist
This is one of the handsomest books I have read in years. The notes by the author/editor, who has annotated the daily diaries of playwright Tennessee Williams, are spectacularly thorough, covering virtually every actor, director, known and unknown, Williams ever met. Loads of fun reading the notes, and the diaries themselves on facing pages, with marvelous and copious photographs, goofy illustrations, maps - you name it. Williams hasn't much to say about his writing life, but lots to say about his state of mind, which is usually spinning out of control along with his life. Williams was part of that first real jet set, living in a given year in a dozen places. The first and last question on his mind was how to find "trade" by which he meant pick-ups for casual sex. Fascinating and then really boring like most pornography.

An Incredible Look into the Mind of a Literary Genius
Margaret Bradham Thornton is to be commended for compiling Tennessee Williams' journals with such painstaking attention to detail, in-depth analysis and thorough research. Her efforts afford the reader an amazing, unique glimpse into the life of an American literary giant -- a man whose plays, including The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire, have become classics for the ages, not to mention a man who led an intriguing life in and out of the public eye. There is no shortage of skeletons to be found in Williams' closet; his homosexuality is a particular source of angst to him in a world that did not approve of such a thing. He dallies with male prostitutes, and in one instance gets severely beaten for his troubles. Meanwhile, he is haunted by his sister, who underwent a frontal lobotomy after being institutionalized (it is his guilt over leaving her to pursue his writing that drove him to write "The Glass Menagerie," which features a very Williams-esque young man desperate to escape his dreary life with a crippled sister and needy mother in order to pursue his dreams).

Through his notebooks, Williams provides you with a backstage pass to one of the most thrilling talents Broadway has ever seen, and through extensive footnoting Thornton puts it all into a clear narrative for you to follow along. She also includes countless photographs and pieces of artwork. There are moments when what Williams writes does not match up with what other interviewees recall, forcing Thornton and the reader to speculate as to which version is closer to the truth, but in "Notebooks" Williams does nothing short of bare his soul to the reader. It is utterly fascinating to experience his artist's-eye-view of the world, and I would highly recommend this book.
Grade: A+