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Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams
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Suddenly Last Summer (original 1958; edition 1960)

by Tennessee Williams

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365669,782 (3.86)14
The New York Herald-Tribune writes: "This, says Mr. Williams through the most sympathetic voice among his characters, is a true story about the time and the world we live in.' He has made it seem true - or at least curiously and suspense-fully possible - by the extraordinary skill with which he has wrung detail after detail out of a young woman who has lived with horror. Catharine Holly], as a girl who has been the sole witness to her cousin's unbelievably shocking death, is brought into a 'planned jungle' of a New Orleans garden to confront a family that is intensely interested in having her deny the lurid tale she has told. The post-dilettante's mother is, indeed, so ruthlessly eager to suppress the facts that she had the girl incarcerated in a mental institution and she is perfectly willing, once she finishes her ritualistic five o'clock frozen daiquiri, to order the performance of a frontal lobotomy. A nun stands in rigid attendance; a doctor prepares a hypodermic to force the truth; greedy relatives beg her to recant in return for solid cash. Under the assorted, and thoroughly fascinating, pressures that are brought to bear, and under the intolerable, stammering strain of reliving her own memories, she slowly, painfully, hypnotically paints a concrete and blistering portrait of loneliness ... of the sudden snapping of that spider's web that is one man's life, of ultimate panic and futile flight. The very reluctance with which the grim, hopeless narrative is unfolded binds us to it; Mr. Williams threads it out with a spare, sure, sharply vivid control of language . . . and the spell is cast. " "Startling proof of what A man can do with words ... this brief withering play is a superb achievement." -The New York Times "A haunting spell that is virtually hypnotic in its compelling power." -The New York Post… (more)
Member:AZBob1951
Title:Suddenly Last Summer
Authors:Tennessee Williams
Info:Signet Books, Paperback, 93 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:**
Tags:fiction, plays_theatre

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Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams (1958)

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I love the language and the grotesque scenario. Especially admire Williams's development of Violet Venable. ( )
  iothemoon | Sep 27, 2023 |
Humanity Debauched

Suddenly Last Summer Sebastian Venable died a violent death in Spain and afterwards his niece Catharine, who accompanied him instead of his mother Violet, just would not stop saying nasty things about his demise. The only solution was to call in the famous Portuguese psychiatric surgeon Dr. Cukrowicz, offer him a load of money in support of his research, and have him lobotomize Catherine. Or, as the always correct Mrs. Venable shouted in the final moments of the play, “cut this hideous story from her brain.”

And what was this story that so disturbed Mrs. Venable. Simply that the son she idolized as a poet was a homosexual. Bad enough back in the day of the play, 1936, and the place, the Garden District of New Orleans, but add to it Sebastian’s dilettantism, his predatory instinct, and his willful use of his mother (cast aside when she became too old), replaced by pretty Catherine, as a magnet to attract young men, well then, no wonder Mrs. Venable wanted to destroy her niece to protect her son’s, and thereby her own, reputation.

Everything in this play speaks to the baser aspects of human nature, most particularly our unrestrained urges to use and abuse each other. Here, Violet and Sebastian lord it over the people around them. Witness Mrs. Venable’s treatment of her servant and of sister, nephew, and niece; of Sebastian’s use of his own mother; of Sebastian’s sexual use of young, poor boys; of Catherine’s mother’s and brother’s efforts to silence her for the sake of money; and, finally, in the end, of the devouring of Sebastian’s flesh by the symbols of the abused seeking revenge, like meat in the maw of the Venus Flytrap featured in his own garish garden.

If your only acquaintance with Suddenly Last Summer is the film, you will certainly want to read the play for yourself and, if available, a staged performance. There are significant differences between the two.

Finally, on the subject of lobotomy, readers will be interested to know that the procedure was quite popular from the time of its invention by António Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist, in the 1930s, for which he received a Nobel in 1949, through the 1950s. Additionally, Tennessee Williams had an older sister, Rose, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic, then lobotomized. She spent the rest of her life in a mental institution.
( )
1 vote write-review | Nov 4, 2021 |
Humanity Debauched

Suddenly Last Summer Sebastian Venable died a violent death in Spain and afterwards his niece Catharine, who accompanied him instead of his mother Violet, just would not stop saying nasty things about his demise. The only solution was to call in the famous Portuguese psychiatric surgeon Dr. Cukrowicz, offer him a load of money in support of his research, and have him lobotomize Catherine. Or, as the always correct Mrs. Venable shouted in the final moments of the play, “cut this hideous story from her brain.”

And what was this story that so disturbed Mrs. Venable. Simply that the son she idolized as a poet was a homosexual. Bad enough back in the day of the play, 1936, and the place, the Garden District of New Orleans, but add to it Sebastian’s dilettantism, his predatory instinct, and his willful use of his mother (cast aside when she became too old), replaced by pretty Catherine, as a magnet to attract young men, well then, no wonder Mrs. Venable wanted to destroy her niece to protect her son’s, and thereby her own, reputation.

Everything in this play speaks to the baser aspects of human nature, most particularly our unrestrained urges to use and abuse each other. Here, Violet and Sebastian lord it over the people around them. Witness Mrs. Venable’s treatment of her servant and of sister, nephew, and niece; of Sebastian’s use of his own mother; of Sebastian’s sexual use of young, poor boys; of Catherine’s mother’s and brother’s efforts to silence her for the sake of money; and, finally, in the end, of the devouring of Sebastian’s flesh by the symbols of the abused seeking revenge, like meat in the maw of the Venus Flytrap featured in his own garish garden.

If your only acquaintance with Suddenly Last Summer is the film, you will certainly want to read the play for yourself and, if available, a staged performance. There are significant differences between the two.

Finally, on the subject of lobotomy, readers will be interested to know that the procedure was quite popular from the time of its invention by António Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist, in the 1930s, for which he received a Nobel in 1949, through the 1950s. Additionally, Tennessee Williams had an older sister, Rose, who was diagnosed as schizophrenic, then lobotomized. She spent the rest of her life in a mental institution.
( )
  write-review | Nov 4, 2021 |
Williams wrote sheer poetry on the page. This one filled with memorable characters and scenes. ( )
1 vote silversurfer | Aug 18, 2008 |
I found this play to be incredibly interesting despite its very short length. The play is mostly dialogue-centric, and there is very little action. It has a slightly eerie quality to it, which is the only reason I could imagine someone disliking it. ( )
  cinesnail88 | Dec 15, 2007 |
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Epigraph
Dedication
To Anne Meacham
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The set may be as unrealistic as the decor of a dramatic ballet.
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Disambiguation notice
This work refers to separate editions of the play. Please do not combine with omnibus editions which contain other plays also, nor with any other version that does not contain the full original text (e.g. abridged or simplified texts, movie adaptations, student guides or notes, etc.).
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The New York Herald-Tribune writes: "This, says Mr. Williams through the most sympathetic voice among his characters, is a true story about the time and the world we live in.' He has made it seem true - or at least curiously and suspense-fully possible - by the extraordinary skill with which he has wrung detail after detail out of a young woman who has lived with horror. Catharine Holly], as a girl who has been the sole witness to her cousin's unbelievably shocking death, is brought into a 'planned jungle' of a New Orleans garden to confront a family that is intensely interested in having her deny the lurid tale she has told. The post-dilettante's mother is, indeed, so ruthlessly eager to suppress the facts that she had the girl incarcerated in a mental institution and she is perfectly willing, once she finishes her ritualistic five o'clock frozen daiquiri, to order the performance of a frontal lobotomy. A nun stands in rigid attendance; a doctor prepares a hypodermic to force the truth; greedy relatives beg her to recant in return for solid cash. Under the assorted, and thoroughly fascinating, pressures that are brought to bear, and under the intolerable, stammering strain of reliving her own memories, she slowly, painfully, hypnotically paints a concrete and blistering portrait of loneliness ... of the sudden snapping of that spider's web that is one man's life, of ultimate panic and futile flight. The very reluctance with which the grim, hopeless narrative is unfolded binds us to it; Mr. Williams threads it out with a spare, sure, sharply vivid control of language . . . and the spell is cast. " "Startling proof of what A man can do with words ... this brief withering play is a superb achievement." -The New York Times "A haunting spell that is virtually hypnotic in its compelling power." -The New York Post

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Penguin Australia

An edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia.

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