TENNESSEE WILLIAMS A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (ISBN: 9780811216029)

"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams is a Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Circle Award-winning play that continues to resonate powerfully decades after its Broadway premiere. Here's a summary:

• The play follows the story of Blanche DuBois, a faded and promiscuous Southern belle, who moves in with her sister Stella and her brutish brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans.
• Blanche's fragile mental state is further deteriorated by Stanley's aggressive behavior and her own romantic delusions.
• The play explores themes of desire, illusion, reality, and the clash of cultures and classes.
• "A Streetcar Named Desire" launched the careers of Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden.
• It solidified Tennessee Williams' position as one of the most important playwrights of his generation and Elia Kazan as a leading American stage director.
• Arthur Miller, another prominent playwright of the time, provides an introduction to this edition, offering insights into Williams' unique style and the cultural impact of the play.
• This edition also includes Williams' essay "The World I Live In" and a brief chronology of the author's life.

Overall, "A Streetcar Named Desire" remains a classic of American theater, celebrated for its poetic dialogue, complex characters, and exploration of human emotions.