--- product_id: 1363303 title: "The Glass Menagerie" price: "€ 34.19" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.be/products/1363303-the-glass-menagerie store_origin: BE region: Belgium --- # The Glass Menagerie **Price:** € 34.19 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Glass Menagerie - **How much does it cost?** € 34.19 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.be](https://www.desertcart.be/products/1363303-the-glass-menagerie) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description No play in the modern theatre has so captured the imagination and heart of the American public as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie . Menagerie was Williams's first popular success and launched the brilliant, if somewhat controversial, career of our pre-eminent lyric playwright. Since its premiere in Chicago in 1944, with the legendary Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda, the play has been the bravura piece for great actresses from Jessica Tandy to Joanne Woodward, and is studied and performed in classrooms and theatres around the world. The Glass Menagerie (in the reading text the author preferred) is now available only in its New Directions Paperbook edition. A new introduction by prominent Williams scholar Robert Bray, editor of The Tennessee Williams Annual Review , reappraises the play more than half a century after it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award: "More than fifty years after telling his story of a family whose lives form a triangle of quiet desperation, Williams's mellifluous voice still resonates deeply and universally." This edition of The Glass Menagerie also includes Williams's essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, "The Catastrophe of Success," as well as a short section of Williams's own "Production Notes." The cover features the classic line drawing by Alvin Lustig, originally done for the 1949 New Directions edition. Review: Those gentleman callers… - …with honorable and not so honorable intentions. I first saw this play produced in Atlanta, in the ‘70’s, and fragments of it have rolled around in my brain ever since. First and foremost there was the character of Amanda Wingfield, firmly stuck in the past, recalling her “glory days” as Bruce Springsteen would phrase it, in his famous song about two people in their ‘20’s, recalling how their life had peaked out in high school. For Amanda Wingfield, her “glory days” were from her teenage years also, in the Mississippi Delta, when she had 17 gentlemen callers seeking her hand… and probably a bit more. She tells her daughter, Laura, that a “girl had to be a conversationalist” back then. All those possibilities, the 17, and always the hint of so many more, yet she makes a “poor choice” who would abandon her and the family, and send a post card from Mexico that said simply: “Hello, Good-bye.” Tennessee Williams sets this play in America’s heartland, St. Louis. It is the late 1930’s, with news flashes involving the war in Spain, and Chamberlain. The Wingfield family is lower middle class, living in a tattered apartment, in a building with fire escapes, subsisting off the $65 a month son Tom, who works in a shoe store warehouse, brings home every month. Williams play is straightforward, and so easily understood, and packs so much pathos and heart-break into two hours of viewing, or reading, which chronicles the poverty of human existence. Reading the play after some four decades helped me recall some of the tragic circumstances of the other two members in the Wingfield family. There is daughter Laura, a “cripple,” and even back then the mother admonishes Tom not to use that word. She has a physical challenge; that is all. But it dominates her life, and she has not been able to overcome it. Now, many years after high school, she still recalls how much noise her brace made, and knew everyone was looking at her. She is painfully, painfully shy, cannot stay in steno school because she threw up on the floor, and pretends to continue to go, but visits the parks instead. Her sole solace in life is her small collection of glass animals, including a unicorn, which mom dubs with the name of the play. I had completely forgotten – or perhaps never realized the equal pathos in the life of son Tom. Stuck in a dead-end warehouse job, living with a mother and sister who are each in their very different worlds. The “breadwinner,” of sorts. He “escapes” from his humdrum life via the movies and alcohol, and endures the nagging of his mother. But he has his own plans… for a little real adventure in life, instead of living vicariously through the movies. “Chamberlain” haunts the au courant reader, with the realization that World War II is so near, and so now, on reflection, one must wonder how many bored warehouse clerks, from America’s heartland, found their adventure wading into the surf at Iwo Jima or Normandy? The climatic part of the play, which is what I will leave for the reader, is when Tom brings home a “gentleman caller” for Laura. As one might suspect, Williams remains true to his theme of pathos. The author makes very effective use of a shadow screen on stage, and the New Directions version helped recall it after those four decades. When there was a flashback in the play, behind the screen, there were the shadows that captured the essence of the flashback. And when needed, certain words would be flashed on the screen. As is so often the case, the foreword and afterword provide limited value to the reader, and I think should be simply skipped. As for the play itself, it merits 5-stars, plus, and a re-read, a few years down the line. Review: Perfect Condition - I often browse for books in the stores, and when it comes to purchasing, i prefer desertcart. I like my books in perfect condition. desertcart did not disappoint. The book is high quality. I do not rate the stories themselves, that is a personal... ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #15,834 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #10 in American Dramas & Plays #544 in Family Life Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,754 Reviews | ## Images ![The Glass Menagerie - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51GltFNxhhL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Those gentleman callers… *by J***I on April 11, 2016* …with honorable and not so honorable intentions. I first saw this play produced in Atlanta, in the ‘70’s, and fragments of it have rolled around in my brain ever since. First and foremost there was the character of Amanda Wingfield, firmly stuck in the past, recalling her “glory days” as Bruce Springsteen would phrase it, in his famous song about two people in their ‘20’s, recalling how their life had peaked out in high school. For Amanda Wingfield, her “glory days” were from her teenage years also, in the Mississippi Delta, when she had 17 gentlemen callers seeking her hand… and probably a bit more. She tells her daughter, Laura, that a “girl had to be a conversationalist” back then. All those possibilities, the 17, and always the hint of so many more, yet she makes a “poor choice” who would abandon her and the family, and send a post card from Mexico that said simply: “Hello, Good-bye.” Tennessee Williams sets this play in America’s heartland, St. Louis. It is the late 1930’s, with news flashes involving the war in Spain, and Chamberlain. The Wingfield family is lower middle class, living in a tattered apartment, in a building with fire escapes, subsisting off the $65 a month son Tom, who works in a shoe store warehouse, brings home every month. Williams play is straightforward, and so easily understood, and packs so much pathos and heart-break into two hours of viewing, or reading, which chronicles the poverty of human existence. Reading the play after some four decades helped me recall some of the tragic circumstances of the other two members in the Wingfield family. There is daughter Laura, a “cripple,” and even back then the mother admonishes Tom not to use that word. She has a physical challenge; that is all. But it dominates her life, and she has not been able to overcome it. Now, many years after high school, she still recalls how much noise her brace made, and knew everyone was looking at her. She is painfully, painfully shy, cannot stay in steno school because she threw up on the floor, and pretends to continue to go, but visits the parks instead. Her sole solace in life is her small collection of glass animals, including a unicorn, which mom dubs with the name of the play. I had completely forgotten – or perhaps never realized the equal pathos in the life of son Tom. Stuck in a dead-end warehouse job, living with a mother and sister who are each in their very different worlds. The “breadwinner,” of sorts. He “escapes” from his humdrum life via the movies and alcohol, and endures the nagging of his mother. But he has his own plans… for a little real adventure in life, instead of living vicariously through the movies. “Chamberlain” haunts the au courant reader, with the realization that World War II is so near, and so now, on reflection, one must wonder how many bored warehouse clerks, from America’s heartland, found their adventure wading into the surf at Iwo Jima or Normandy? The climatic part of the play, which is what I will leave for the reader, is when Tom brings home a “gentleman caller” for Laura. As one might suspect, Williams remains true to his theme of pathos. The author makes very effective use of a shadow screen on stage, and the New Directions version helped recall it after those four decades. When there was a flashback in the play, behind the screen, there were the shadows that captured the essence of the flashback. And when needed, certain words would be flashed on the screen. As is so often the case, the foreword and afterword provide limited value to the reader, and I think should be simply skipped. As for the play itself, it merits 5-stars, plus, and a re-read, a few years down the line. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Perfect Condition *by K***R on August 22, 2024* I often browse for books in the stores, and when it comes to purchasing, i prefer Amazon. I like my books in perfect condition. Amazon did not disappoint. The book is high quality. I do not rate the stories themselves, that is a personal... ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A sort of tragedy *by G***H on February 5, 2017* from the perspective of a somewhat successful female in the modern age, there were so many social observations in this play. A mother who relied on her husband to be the provider, as was the absolute rule of the time, seemingly abandoned. left in the wake, a son who must now bear the burden, and begrudgingly so. No wonder women developed a reputation for being gold diggers, and no wonder men have become so mistrustful of women. Williams seems to be a bit preoccupied with this theme so I can't help but wonder about the manipulative women he may have had in his life. it was a somber read, and well written. There is an interesting back-story about how it was awarded the Pulitzer. This kindle edition included a phenomenal essay at the end written by Tennessee Williams about the effects of success and the importance of having struggle in life. I will probably reread the essay a hundred times! ## Frequently Bought Together - The Glass Menagerie - The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. 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