Product Description

Tennesee Williams's landmark play exposes the emotional lies governing relationships in the family of a wealthy Southern planter of humble origins. The patriarch, Big Daddy, is about to celebrate his 65th birthday. His two married sons, Gooper (Brother Man) and Brick, have returned for the occasion, the former with his pregnant wife and five children, the latter with his wife Margaret (Maggie). Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a brutally honest examination of homosexuality, father/son relationships, greed, manipulation, aging, and death.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68770 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
Tennessee Williams was born in 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi, where his grandfather was the episcopal clergyman. When his father, a travelling salesman, moved with his family to St Louis some years later, both he and his sister found it impossible to settle down to city life. He entered college during the Depression and left after a couple of years to take a clerical job in a shoe company. He stayed there for two years, spending the evening writing. He entered the University of Iowa in 1938 and completed his course, at the same time holding a large number of part-time jobs of great diversity. He received a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1940 for his play Battle of Angels, and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 and 1955. Among his many other plays Penguin have published Summer and Smoke (1948), The Rose Tattoo (1951), Camino Real (1953), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Baby Doll (1957), Orpheus Descending (1957), Something Unspoken (1958), Suddenly Last Summer (1958), Period of Adjustment (1960), The Night of the Iguana (1961), The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1963), and Small Craft Warnings (1972). Tennessee Williams died in 1983.

Customer Reviews

The best play I ever read - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
One of the things I am most grateful for from my education is that at A-Level we were made to study 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof'. It totally changed my perceptions of how a play could be written and how it could prevoke thoughts in the viewer/reader with such subtlety and charm.

T. Williams is now and I hope will always be my favourite play-write. Although as another review of this play states - the film does not do this play justice, I would still give the film (with Paul Newman and Liz Taylor) huge credit for adapting it sympathetically at a time when hollywood just didn't do a film showcasing this type of drama with ambiguous endings.

T Willaims himself was asked to rewrite parts to make them more audiance friendly. While the changes between the versions are not earth shatteringly different I find that depending on my mood I will read different versions at different times.

For anyone who wants to emmerse themselves in a play and be tempted by flawed and beautiful characters I would whole-heartedly recommend this play to anyone.

3 Excellent American Plays
Though I'm not a fan of American culture Williams takes the top prize: all 3 are excellent. The tension is perfect and the atmosphere steamy (that word seems to fit so well). I would also recommend the films but of course plays first! You will be gripped!

Compelling
The film does not do the book Justice. The book is extremely well written. A classic