This book, like other traditional American books, has a simple appearance, but in fact it is complex and encrypted (although it does not reach the level of European books of its time).

A drama called Hose Williams also belongs to this type of American books.

Apart from its literary nature, one can well examine the psychological aspects of different characters in the book, and this work is attractive, and these very features are worthy of a four-star rating.

I recommend that you watch its movie.

This book seems ordinary on the surface, much like other typical American books. However, upon closer inspection, it reveals a hidden complexity and encryption that may not quite match the sophistication of European literature of the same era.

The drama Hose Williams is another example of this kind of American literature.

Beyond its literary merit, the exploration of the psychological nuances of the various characters in the book is truly captivating. These characteristics alone make it deserving of a four-star rating.

I highly suggest that you watch the movie adaptation of this book. It could offer a different perspective and enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the story.

I first read "A Streetcar Named Desire" during my childhood. It has been my favorite play ever since, and I have not only read it multiple times but also taught it on several occasions. Over a span of more than 20 years, I have watched the classic 1951 film version numerous times as well.

This recent adult rereading of "Streetcar" was an extremely powerful experience, almost like being punched in the gut. It is a truly nasty story that delves into themes of lust, mental instability, and serves as a metaphor for the changing South, with the rapid influx of industrializing manufacturing companies from the North.

It is a seminal work in the Southern Literary Renaissance, specifically within the Southern Gothic genre, and a harrowing tale of lost love. Blanche, Stella, Stanley, and Mitch will forever remain in the minds of those who have deeply engaged with this dark play that explores lust, violence, sexuality, and hypocrisy. It is both an unsettling metaphor and a stark reminder of the harsh reality.

For those who have never read the play, it tells the story of Blanche DuBois, a fading Mississippi Southern Belle and former English teacher who has lost everything. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself at the mercy of her sister Stella and her brutish yet highly sexually charged brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, in a squalid New Orleans apartment.

Blanche's flighty persona and pathological lies about her sordid past prove to be too much for Stanley to tolerate, and he sets out to destroy her reputation in an attempt to control the situation. His ideas of realism and fantasy are completely opposite to Blanche's, with Stella and his friend Mitch caught in the middle of their battle of wits.

Blanche defiantly states, "I don't want realism, I want magic" as she tries to hold on to her dignity. However, after all her secrets are revealed, including her ill-fated marriage to Allan Gray and her questionable relationship with one of her former students, it all leads to a haunting and cruel fate.

The play is filled with bitter dialogue that will linger in the reader's mind, such as Blanche's famous line, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers."

The 1951 definitive film adaptation starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando is just as devastating as the play itself. Their unforgettable performances bring to life the flighty and tragic Blanche, while Brando steals the show with his heart-stopping, shirtless, and animalistic portrayal. Kim Hunter and Karl Malden also provide excellent support as Stella and Mitch, and like Ms. Leigh, and except for Mr. Brando, all won Academy Awards for their performances.

Postscript:

I also feel incredibly privileged to have seen Cate Blanchett perform "Streetcar" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in what I consider to be one of the five best live performances I have ever witnessed. It was a touring production from the Sydney Theater Company back in 2009.

Her Blanche has become firmly implanted in my brain, and I was glad to see her play a variation of Blanche in Woody Allen's film "Blue Jasmine." During the three hours I spent watching Ms. Blanchett duel with Joel Edgerton’s Stanley, the ghosts of Leigh and Brando were quietly held at bay on the wings of the theater. The production was directed with sensitivity and harrowing clarity by Liv Ullman.

2025 postscript: I once again saw this play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in a production directed by Rebecca Frecknall. Starring Patsy Ferran as Blanche and the current heartthrob, Paul Mescal as Stanley, it is a thoughtful production that places Blanche and Stella’s relationship at the center stage, highlighting the decisions they made as women in order to survive.

It offers a more contemporary vision that is quite dazzling in its execution, and this time, Stanley takes a backseat. If you are in New York until the middle of March 2025, don't miss the opportunity to see this production of "Streetcar."

A Streetcar Named Desire is a truly devastating dramatization that showcases the inability of fantasy to rescue one from the harsh reality. As the victim, Blanche DuBois, succumbs, we witness the profound trauma she endures. This play delves deep into the complexity of mental health, as Blanche drowns within the depths of her elaborate facade and the misplaced trust she has in those around her.

Tennessee Williams masterfully crafts a story that is both poignant and thought-provoking. The characters are vividly drawn, and their struggles are palpable. Blanche's descent into madness is a tragic and yet captivating journey.

The play's exploration of themes such as desire, illusion, and the breakdown of the human psyche is simply outstanding. It lingers in the mind long after the final page has been turned, leaving a lasting impression on the reader. A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic work of literature that continues to resonate with audiences today.

I read this play as part of the Dead Writers Society Literary Birthday Challenge for March. I am extremely happy that I selected Williams as one of the authors I wanted to read this month.

I think in school I may have possibly read only one of the first scenes from this play and that was it. Reading the entire play in one sitting was truly fantastic. Tennessee Williams doesn't just focus on the characters; he also focuses on the music being played in the scenes, how the music changes based on what the characters are saying, how they should look, how the set pieces should look, and so on. This was like getting behind-the-scenes notes on how a play is written.

FYI, there is a discussion of rape in this review, so please skip over if you don't want to read about the subject.

Following two sisters, Blanche and Stella, we have Stella living in New Orleans, married to her husband Stanley. Stella was fairly well off before marrying Stanley, and the two are in a marriage that has a lot of passion but also a great deal of anger and fights.

Blanche, still recovering from the loss of her first husband, has come to visit Stella. It's quite apparent that things are not what they seem with Blanche and that she is a bit "off," so to speak, based on later scenes.

Stella and Blanche are total opposites in some ways, but oh my goodness, they have some similarities. For example, both bury their heads in the sand when it comes to facing up to their reality.

Blanche still wants to believe she's a Southern belle with beaus scampering after her.

Stella wants to believe that passion and the love she has for Stanley is enough, though he is at times abusive when he drinks and is definitely verbally abusive to her when he has not drunk.

The character of Stanley is crude, hurtful, and smart. I think that is one of the things that you don't realize at first glance. Stanley takes his time, but he ensures that he breaks Blanche down to size. The fact that when he first met her and he realized her opinion of him, his only reaction was to do what he could to make her be a woman, i.e., someone he could control just like Stella.

The secondary characters in this play, Mitch (a potential beau for Blanche) and Eunice (upstairs neighbor and friend to Stella), are given solid backgrounds as well. Eunice seems to be just as lost as Stella regarding how a woman expects to be treated by her man and/or husband. Mitch is a mama's boy who is always going to go through life disappointed that no woman he marries is her.

I thought the writing was excellent, and always with just a word or phrase, Williams can depict so much of what is going on with a character. Probably the scene that was the hardest was when we get to the final confrontation between Blanche and Stanley, which ends with Stanley raping her. Because as a reader, things are set up enough that I realized that this was where Williams was going to go.

I hated that line though, probably because it is implied in Stanley's mind that what he's about to do is welcomed by Blanche. And all because he wanted to totally destroy her and make her "see" that her life was a lie.

And at that point with the ending of the play and what comes after, I ended up hating the character of Stella. Because it was cruel and hard to read that poor Blanche, who at that point is scared of Stanley and has told her sister what he did, can't wrap her head around him still being in the apartment prior to her being carted away. We as readers know that Stella chose her husband and new baby over her sister and ended up not believing her. Or maybe she did believe her, but still chose Stanley over her (which is even worse).

The setting of New Orleans I thought was perfect for this play. I could imagine it being hot, everyone sweaty, and being able to hear the crowd down below and the music coming up the stairs from the street.

I did follow up to see that the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire changed things up regarding the ending. I actually like Williams' version better, maybe because it's more cruel and true to life. Though I do like the film version making sure that there was some punishment for Stanley.

In the 1940s, a mentally ill woman had very little hope.

My deepest sympathies go out to Blanche DuBois. Just picture marrying a man who is secretly gay and then catching him in the act - that's how you discover the truth, by the way. And when you confront him about it, he immediately blows his brains out, quite literally. On top of that, you've lost your home and have nowhere to live. Broken and alone, you turn to your sister (the only remaining member of your family) for assistance, but, unfortunately, she's married to Stanley Kowalski, one of the most despicable men in literature. Your downfall then follows.

It's stating the obvious, but Tennessee Williams is an outstanding playwright. Five stars for "A Streetcar Named Desire", an incredibly brilliant play!

The autobio named Hose for me was about not giving up the past even at the price of living in an illusion. It was about pouring out the past against the pain of the "present". It was about the difficulty of accepting the misfortunes and being nobody.

Of course, the layers of this autobio were much more than these words. I wish I had read it in a better time so that I could enjoy it more. Its audio version, which was performed by BBC with a choir, is excellent.

You can download its book and audio version from here Maede's Books.

1403/7/16.

They told me to take a street-car named Desire,
and then transfer to one called Cemeteries
and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!

This beginning seems to be filled with an air of Greek tragedy. It makes one wonder what kind of fate awaits. The very names of the street-cars, Desire and Cemeteries, suggest a journey that might lead to both passion and death. As I envision following these directions, a sense of unease creeps in. What lies ahead on this path? Will I find love and fulfillment on Elysian Fields, or will it be a place of disappointment and sorrow? The mystery and uncertainty add an element of drama to the situation. It's as if I am about to embark on a journey that could change my life forever, and I have no idea what to expect.

"They told me to take a street-car named Desire,
and then transfer to one called Cemeteries
and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!"


Well, with a beginning reeking of Greek tragedy, what can go wrong?!

For the last few years, I have made it a habit to review everything that I read. At times, this can be an absolute pain in the ass. And this is precisely one of those times.

"A Streetcar Named Desire" is perhaps the most renowned play of one of America's most distinguished playwrights. Its movie adaptation is a true classic. It is a play filled with intense passion, powerful emotions, and larger-than-life characters. However, to be completely honest, I simply do not like it. It left me completely cold. It failed to touch me on any emotional level. In fact, it kind of pissed me off.

Why is that? I simply could not abide Stanley. He is a brute and a bully, and he dominates this play just as he dominates his wife Stella. The way everything unfolds, with Stella lying to herself while her sister Blanche is destroyed and abandoned, really tore at me, but not in a good way. The play felt exploitative, mean-spirited, and cruel. When I think about poor Blanche and her tragic fate, all I can think of is a sad line from Richard Brautigan's short story "The Betrayed Kingdom": "This might have been a funny story if it weren't for the fact that people need a little loving, and God, sometimes it's sad all the shit they have to go through to find some."

Then what is good?

The obsessive interest in human affairs, plus a certain amount of compassion and moral conviction, that first made the experience of living something that must be translated into pigment or music or bodily movement or poetry or prose or anything that's dynamic and expressive - that's what's good for you if you're at all serious in your aims.

William Saroyan wrote a great play on this theme, that purity of heart is the one success worth having. ‘In the time of your life - live!’

That time is short and it doesn't return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, and the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, Loss, Loss, unless you devote your heart to its opposition.

Plain flat on the page, it’s a cardboard caricature of a circus. Of passions that run wild like pretty little horses, that play on masculinity and failures.

Where do we go when our grand delusions get the best of us? Where do we go when all we have left is broken sanity?

How do passions run and remain to make us feel wanted and needed? What do we actually want and need?

The introduction provided by Signet Classics speaks to most of the theatrics that jump off the page. There’s a bit of Tennessee in DuBois, as there is in a bit of all of us.

We throw tantrums towards the great flames of life, burning up towards nothing, hoping only the light we glimmer off is seen by someone, anyone at all.

When read, all we get is Williams himself, but in companion with Kazan’s adaptation do the characters sing, do we have some kind of heart for Stanley by way of Brando and do we really see DuBois fly off the page by Leigh in a whirl of bliss and sorrow.

This exploration of human nature and the pursuit of what is good is a complex and thought-provoking one. It makes us question our own desires, our passions, and our place in the world.

The words on the page may seem static, but when brought to life through different mediums like film, they take on a new dimension and allow us to experience the story in a more profound way.

Whether it's through the written word, the stage, or the screen, the themes of Williams' work continue to resonate with audiences and make us reflect on the meaning of our own lives.

We are all part of this circus of life, with our own passions, delusions, and moments of broken sanity. But it is through our experiences and our search for what is good that we can find meaning and purpose in this fleeting existence.

So, let us embrace the chaos, feel the passions, and strive for that purity of heart that Saroyan speaks of. For in the end, it is only through living fully that we can truly say we have experienced life to the fullest.

Theater is not always about what is beautiful or my opinion or this talk. The tragedy remains a famous play for Tennessee Williams, and Marlon Brando played it twice in a film and a play in Egypt. Here, Yasser Jalal plays the character in the film "The Desire". I swear, anything that Marlon represents or even if someone reads it, Yasser Jalal can't really talk about it because he doesn't represent it. When it comes to a famous play and the hero is Nadi Al-Jundi, her time was still from Tel Aviv and the war, and she left the throne of Egypt and took her friend and lover, Hamed Shahin, with her. They didn't come to explain the idea of Tennessee Williams in "The Desire". They saw desire and Yasser Jalal in a carriage of burdens, so they said, "Yes, there must be corruption and usurpation in it." And they took Adel Al-Far, who is the owner of the joke, and made the film. And of course, the production of Sabki, in the name of God, not God willing, is excellent from his day.

I mean, if this was a cartoon play, the heroes wouldn't be like this. It's not a story for Mostafa Mahmoud. Mercy, people, a little bit lacking. Mohamed Ramadan and Ahmed Al-Sakka made a film, Raf Hart, about the liberation of the city of Lapis.

The play by Naguib is good, and its idea impressed me. I read it a long time ago and it didn't impress me much, but when I reread it, it was kind of good. "The Desire" and what it can cause. The hero became mentally ill and even her sister is not normal, so she oppressed her sister and her life just to satisfy the desire. And a husband like an animal. The play is good, but Yasser Jalal closed the play.

Read for class...

Plays really aren't my thing. I have always found it difficult to engage with the characters and the story when it is presented in the form of a play. Maybe it's because I'm more of a visual learner and need to see the action unfold on a screen or in a book with detailed descriptions.

Another reason could be that I find it hard to follow the dialogue and keep track of who is speaking and what they are saying. In a movie or a TV show, there are usually visual cues and body language to help me understand the meaning, but in a play, it all depends on the actor's delivery and my ability to listen carefully.

However, I do understand the importance of plays in literature and culture. They have been around for centuries and have provided entertainment and education to people all over the world. I just wish that I could find a way to appreciate them more and get more out of the experience.

There are certain characters in plays that are so iconic that it is nearly impossible to envision anyone else in the role other than the star who made it famous.

In a Broadway musical, for instance, one simply cannot imagine Henry Higgins being played by anyone but Rex Harrison, or Harold Hill by anyone other than Robert Preston.

I vividly recall seeing Rudolf Nureyev take on the role of the King of Siam. Despite the fact that he let out feminine wails every time he stepped on stage, it was clear that Nureyev was no Yul Brynner.

The same holds true for Stanley Kowalski in "Streetcar". Marlon Brando's performance has become the benchmark by which all others are judged.

And yet, Blanche DuBois is the main character, the one whose life on stage is sentenced to take a streetcar named Desire, change at Cemetery, and walk six blocks to Elysian Fields.

For the record, I apologize for mixing the written play with the Broadway play and the movie. When reading this play, one doesn't so much feel Stanley as being angry as being easily insulted and greatly annoyed.

One does get the sense that Blanche and Stella gang up on him, reverting to their more luxurious lives together at Belle Rive.

But like Hamlet, Blanche is a role that a talented actress can interpret in different ways, bringing out her cruelty, her spoiled nature, her vanity, her coquettishness, her dishonesty, and her vulnerability.

However, Brando set the standard for the brutish Stanley, and the role can only be played in one way, with a chip on his shoulder and a short fuse that suddenly explodes in violence.

The play is excellent on paper, but it truly comes to life when spoken by skilled performers who can fully embody the roles and recite the wonderful dialogue.