Caterpillar Dogs
and Other Early Stories
Published on 4. April 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
112 pages
978-0-8112-3232-6 (ISBN)
Description
These tales were penned by one Thomas Lanier Williams of Missouri before he became a successful playwright, and yet his voice is unmistakable.
The reliable idiosyncrasies and quiet dignity of Williams's eccentrics are already present in his characters. Consider the diminutive octogenarian of "The Caterpillar Dogs", who may have just met her match in a pair of laughing Pekinese that refuse to obey; the retired, small-town evangelist in "Every Friday Nite is Kiddies Nite", who wears bright-coloured pyjamas and receives a message from God to move to St. Louis and finally, finally go to the movies again; or the distraught factory worker whose stifled artistic spirit, and just a soupcon of the macabre, propel the drama of "Stair to the Roof".
Love's diversions and misdirections, even autoerotic longings, are found in these delightful lagniappes: in "Season of Grapes," the intoxicating ripeness of summer in the Ozarks acquaints one young man with his own passions, which turn into a fever dream, and the first revelation of female sexuality blooms for a college boy in "Ironweed". Is there such a thing as innocence? Apparently in the 1930s there was, and Williams reveals it in these stories.
The reliable idiosyncrasies and quiet dignity of Williams's eccentrics are already present in his characters. Consider the diminutive octogenarian of "The Caterpillar Dogs", who may have just met her match in a pair of laughing Pekinese that refuse to obey; the retired, small-town evangelist in "Every Friday Nite is Kiddies Nite", who wears bright-coloured pyjamas and receives a message from God to move to St. Louis and finally, finally go to the movies again; or the distraught factory worker whose stifled artistic spirit, and just a soupcon of the macabre, propel the drama of "Stair to the Roof".
Love's diversions and misdirections, even autoerotic longings, are found in these delightful lagniappes: in "Season of Grapes," the intoxicating ripeness of summer in the Ozarks acquaints one young man with his own passions, which turn into a fever dream, and the first revelation of female sexuality blooms for a college boy in "Ironweed". Is there such a thing as innocence? Apparently in the 1930s there was, and Williams reveals it in these stories.
Reviews / Votes
"Williams's ear for dialogue, his eye for character and his dramatic gifts are as powerful in his stories as they are in his plays." -- John Berendt - The New York TimesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 9 mm
Weight
114 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8112-3232-6 (9780811232326)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2023
1st Edition
NEW DIRECTIONS
€29.99
Available for download
Persons
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was America's most influential playwright. Readers have devoured his poetry, essays, short stories, and letters, as well as his fantastic late plays, his remarkable corpus of one-acts, and his greatest plays-The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Night of the Iguana, The Rose Tattoo, Suddenly Last Summer, and Camino Real. Williams is a cornerstone of New Directions-we publish everything he wrote. He is also our single bestselling author.
Theater director and Tennessee Williams scholar Tom Mitchell is professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana. He has directed all of Williams's early full-length plays and adapted several of Williams's unpublished short stories for the stage.
Theater director and Tennessee Williams scholar Tom Mitchell is professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana. He has directed all of Williams's early full-length plays and adapted several of Williams's unpublished short stories for the stage.