A Streetcar Named Desire

Philip C. Kolin ha definito A Streetcar Named Desire come "una delle più influenti pièce del Novecento". Si tratta certo di considerazioni valide non solo per il mondo anglosassone. Streetcar ebbe un immediato e profondo impatto su un Europa devastata dalla Seconda Guerra Mondiale; a un Europa che usciva dal fascismo Streetcar mostrava uno stile di vita aperto, tanto da essere associato alle idee di liberazione politica, di letteratura alternativa, di emancipazione sessuale. Gli aspetti sensazionalistici di Williams contribuirono ad attrarre un largo pubblico, ma la fama che lo riconosce probabilmente come il più grande e più fortunato dei drammaturghi americani si fonda sul suo linguaggio, sulla poesia del suo teatro. Philip C. Kolin called A Streetcar Named Desire, "One of the most influential plays in the twentieth century." Such comments are not restricted to the English speaking world, of course. A Streetcar Named Desire made an immediate and profound impact on a Europe devastated by the Second World War, as Europe emerged from fascism, where Streetcar suggested more open ways to live and was associated with political liberation, with literary alternatives, and with sexual emancipation. And while the more sensational Williams may have helped attract large audiences, his reputation as arguably the greatest and most enduring of American dramatists will rest on his language, on his poetic theater. Stanley E. Gontarski è Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English alla Florida State University. Tra i suoi libri recenti:  (con C. J. Ackerley) The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett:  A Reader’s Guide to His Works, Life, and Thought (London:  Faber and Faber, 2006); A Companion to Samuel Beckett (Oxford:  Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Un resoconto parziale del suo lavoro con Samuel Beckett è stato pubblicato con il titolo "Beckett in Performance" in Remembering Beckett/Beckett Remembering: A Centenary Celebration, ed. by James and Elizabeth Knowlson (New York:  Arcade Publishing and London:  Bloomsbury, 2006). Stanley E. Gontarski is Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University. Two of his recent books are:  (with C. J. Ackerley) The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett:  A Reader’s Guide to His Works, Life, and Thought (London:  Faber and Faber, 2006); and A Companion to Samuel Beckett (Oxford:  Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Part of Professor Gontarski’s memoir of working with Beckett has been published as “Beckett in Performance” in Remembering Beckett/Beckett Remembering: A Centenary Celebration, ed by James and Elizabeth Knowlson (New York:  Arcade Publishing and London:  Bloomsbury, 2006).