Tennessee Williams' notebooks bare his constant doubts
[Williams] was obsessed with his physical condition, a world-class hypochondriac, and it is the rare entry that does not report on his health, or lack thereof: His bowels are a favorite subject along with his "breathless panic" attacks, reports of blood in bodily fluids, "little buzzs...
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| Published in | Newhouse News Service p. 1 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Newsletter |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Washington
Newhouse News Service
06.03.2007
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| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | [Williams] was obsessed with his physical condition, a world-class hypochondriac, and it is the rare entry that does not report on his health, or lack thereof: His bowels are a favorite subject along with his "breathless panic" attacks, reports of blood in bodily fluids, "little buzzsaws in my brain," cardiac distress brought on by nothing more than a mention in a Christopher Isherwood book, "an almost unbroken decline in health and spirits," and always reports of his imminent demise. This may irritate the casual reader, but at several junctures it's almost comic, as when Williams wonders why, after ingesting a succotash of sedatives and a bottle of scotch, his stomach feels queasy. When an actual illness occurs, Williams relishes it. He makes a declaration in April of that year: "My next play will be simple, direct and terrible a picture of my own heart there will be no artifice in it I will speak truth as I see it distort as I see distortion be wild as I am wild tender as I am tender mad as I am mad passionate as I am passionate. It will be myself without concealment or evasion and with a fearful, unashamed frontal assault upon life that will leave no room for trepidation ... it will have in it at least a passionate denial of sham and a cry for beauty." In literary terms, she fulfills the function that [Frank Merlo] and Williams' women friends (Marion Vaccaro, Maria Britneva) did. They supported him, took care of the hundreds of ordinary things that were simply beyond him. [Margaret Bradham Thornton] is practical, doling out information as we need it, generous no, munificent in letting us see actual pages of his journals, photos, cartoons and paintings by the writer, always deepening our understanding of what we are reading, providing the flashlight to the scrolls in this cerebral Aladdin's cave. Her sole objective is to give us "Williams' authentic voice genuine and unadorned" and she has brilliantly succeeded. |
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