Awards
2014 National Book Critic's Circle Award for Biography or Autobiography
Synopses & Reviews
John Lahr has produced a theater biography like no other. Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh gives intimate access to the mind of one of the most brilliant dramatists of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation's sense of itself. This astute, deeply researched biography sheds a light on Tennessee Williams's warring family, his guilt, his creative triumphs and failures, his sexuality and numerous affairs, his misreported death, even the shenanigans surrounding his estate.
With vivid cameos of the formative influences in Williams's life—his fierce, belittling father Cornelius; his puritanical, domineering mother Edwina; his demented sister Rose, who was lobotomized at the age of thirty-three; his beloved grandfather, the Reverend Walter Dakin—Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh is as much a biography of the man who created A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as it is a trenchant exploration of Williams’s plays and the tortured process of bringing them to stage and screen.
The portrait of Williams himself is unforgettable: a virgin until he was twenty-six, he had serial homosexual affairs thereafter as well as long-time, bruising relationships with Pancho Gonzalez and Frank Merlo. With compassion and verve, Lahr explores how Williams's relationships informed his work and how the resulting success brought turmoil to his personal life.
Lahr captures not just Williams’s tempestuous public persona but also his backstage life, where his agent Audrey Wood and the director Elia Kazan play major roles, and Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Bette Davis, Maureen Stapleton, Diana Barrymore, and Tallulah Bankhead have scintillating walk-on parts. This is a biography of the highest order: a book about the major American playwright of his time written by the major American drama critic of his time.
Review
"This is a masterpiece about a genius. Only John Lahr, with his perceptions about the theater, about writers, about poetry, and about people could have written this book. What a marvelous read." Helen Mirren
Review
"Could this be the best theater book I've ever read? It just might be. Tennessee Williams had two great pieces of luck: Elia Kazan to direct his work and now John Lahr to make thrilling sense of his life." John Guare, author of Six Degrees of Separation
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"Brilliant and seamless. A labor of the profoundest love, and it comes from the heart and mind of one of our greatest theater writers." André Bishop, artistic director of Lincoln Center Repertory Theater
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"It is a MAGNIFICENT work. Mesmerizing, illuminating, and heartbreaking." André Gregory
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"There's never been an American critic like John Lahr. His writing exalts, honors, and dignifies the profession and, more importantly, the art." Tony Kushner
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"Unsurpassable...An eloquent, spellbinding narrative that emerges as an instant classic." Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington: A Life
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"Swear-to-god, it's the most original, insightful, thrilling biography I've ever read!" Elizabeth Ashley
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"A splendid book, one of the finest critical biographies extant." Robert Brustein
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"Splendid beyond words. It would be hard to imagine a more satisfying biography." Bill Bryson
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"There is only one word for this biography: superb." Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
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"Brilliant... [Lahr's] achievement is not likely to be surpassed." Publishers Weekly
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"Offers plenty of backstage anecdotes and high private drama.... But Mr. Lahr, ever the critic, keeps the plays themselves front and center.... The book has already won enthusiastic advance notice...along with blurbs from a kick line of A-list 'theatricals' including Helen Mirren, John Guare and Tony Kushner." Jennifer Schuessler
Review
"Scintillating on the backstage and bedroom dramas and almost intrusively perceptive on the autobiographical nature of Williams' art." Hilton Als New Yorker
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"A crucial contribution to the arguments that should always rage around a man who was one of the greatest American playwrights of his tempestuous century." Charles McNulty Los Angeles Times
Review
"This is by far the best book ever written about America's greatest playwright. John Lahr, the longtime drama critic for the , knows his way around Broadway better than anyone. He is a witty and elegant stylist, a scrupulous researcher, a passionate yet canny advocate... He brings us as close to Williams as we are ever likely to get." Chris Jones Chicago Tribune
Review
"This is by far the best book ever written about America's greatest playwright. John Lahr, the longtime drama critic for the New Yorker, knows his way around Broadway better than anyone. He is a witty and elegant stylist, a scrupulous researcher, a passionate yet canny advocate… He brings us as close to Williams as we are ever likely to get." —J.D. McClatchy, Wall Street Journal
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"A masterpiece." New York Times
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"Raises the curtain on Tennessee Williams." J.D. McClatchy Wall Street Journal
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"Intricately detailed... gripping." New York Times
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"A masterpiece." Janet Maslin New York Times
Synopsis
A 'Best Books of 2014' A 2014 Best Book of the Year The definitive biography of America's greatest playwright from the celebrated drama critic of
Synopsis
John Lahr has produced a theater biography like no other. gives intimate access to the mind of one of the most brilliant dramatists of his century, whose plays reshaped the American theater and the nation's sense of itself. This astute, deeply researched biography sheds a light on Tennessee Williams's warring family, his guilt, his creative triumphs and failures, his sexuality and numerous affairs, his misreported death, even the shenanigans surrounding his estate.
Synopsis
NBCC Awards Finalist: Biography Category A 'Best Books of 2014' A 2014 Best Book of the Year : 10 Books We Loved Reading , Holiday Gift Guide: Theatre Category , 10 Best Books of 2014 , Holiday Book Guide 2014: Arts and Entertainment Category & Holiday Gifts for Theater Lovers roundup by Charles McNulty , Holiday Book Guide 2014: Biography Category The definitive biography of America's greatest playwright from the celebrated drama critic of
Synopsis
National Book Critics Circle Award Winner: Biography Category National Book Award Finalist 2015 Winner of the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography American Academy of Arts and Letters' Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award A 'Best Books of 2014' : 10 Books We Loved Reading , 10 Best Books of 2014 The definitive biography of America's greatest playwright from the celebrated drama critic of
Synopsis
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography and Finalist for the National Book Award. The definitive biography of America's greatest playwright from the celebrated drama critic of .
About the Author
National Book Award finalist John Lahr is the author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, among other books. He was the senior drama critic of The New Yorker for over two decades. He has twice won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and is the first critic ever to win a Tony Award (coauthor, Elaine Stritch at Liberty).