EN AVANT! TENNESSEE WILLIAMS BETWEEN HYPERBOREA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Abstract

avant! Tennessee Williams' famous motto might literally be translated Forward! Like image of streetcar, that motto in French or English translation implies movement. But contains built-in direction. To move forward is to move in whatever direction one is facing. And that is what Williams did when he sought a quick escape from an intolerable situation. He seemed to choose his destinations capriciously, and in Europe he faced north almost as often as he faced south.In 1955, for example, anticipating problems with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as it went into rehearsal, Williams began making plans for a far away flight (perhaps as far as Ceylon) night play opens in New York!.1 He ended up sailing for Rome and two weeks later flying to Athens, where he immediately contemplated going:North, guess, almost anywhere north. Maybe all way up to Hamburg. Then maybe Berlin. Who knows? Anyhow guess I'd better keep going if can, as as can .... En avant.2After only two days in Athens, Williams flew to Istanbul.3 Six days later he was back in Rome, and four days after that, Barcelona,4 followed by Rome again, then Stockholm, Hamburg, London, and Paris.5 That 1955 summer itinerary, like many other phases in his and work, shows Tennessee Williams was pulled almost randomly between northern and southern climes, between Hyperborea and Mediterranean.It is generally assumed that Italy was major European font of inspiration for Williams. In Memoirs, he claimed that he had long dreamed of buying a little farm among those lovely in Italy.6 He recalled sailing for Europe in December 1947, when he was no longer able to cope with unremitting publicity in New York,7 and, after becoming ill in France, he found his health and life magically restored as soon as he crossed border into Italy: 'There was sun and there were smiling Italians.8 Three days in Rome led him to declare it the capitol [s/c] of my heart!.9 Thenceforth, as attested in Notebooks and Letters, visits to Italy were almost always restorative to Williams. But effect of Italy on Williams was largely that of people like Anna Magnani and Sicilian Frank Merlo or of movies like those directed by Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti. Those Mediterranean influences were important, but they were not literary. In literary terms, a more important Mediterranean influence derived from a brief, early-career interest in Federico Garcia Lorca, which shows up primarily in Williams' one-Act play, The Purification, and perhaps in Camino Real.The earliest and longest-lasting European literary influence on Tennessee Williams was Hyperborean. Williams often acknowledged great Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's influence on his own writing. For example, in 1965, Williams wrote, I believe that chief influence on me, as a playwright, was Chekhov.10 In 1972, he confirmed his assessment:Chekhov, of course, was a tremendous influence on me. began to read Chekhov in depth when was twenty-four and living in Memphis. got his short stories from library, and had never before come in contact with anything so penetrating, so beautiful. Later read his plays.11And in 1981, he added:What writers influenced me as a young man? Chekhov! As a dramatist? Chekhov! As a story writer? Chekhov!12For a 1937 literature course at Washington University, Williams wrote a twenty-two-page seminar paper analyzing Chekhov's influence on modem drama. And over forty years later, in 1981, Williams completed The Notebook ofTrigorin, fulfilling his long-held dream of adapting The Sea Gull, which he regarded as the first and greatest modem play.13 Other Hyperborean writers who gained a solid foothold in Williams' consciousness include German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, Swedish playwright August Strindberg14 and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. …