Tennessee Williams: the uses of declarative memory in The Glass Menagerie.
Tennessee Williams called his first great work, The Glass Menagerie, his "memory play." The situation in which Williams found himself when he began writing the play is explored, as are the ways in which he used the declarative memory of his protagonist, Tom Wingfield, to express and deal with his own painful conflicts. Williams's use of stage directions, lighting, and music to evoke memory and render it three-dimensional is described. Through a close study of The Glass Menagerie, the many uses of memory for the purposes of wish fulfillment, conflict resolution, and resilience are examined.
Jacobs
Daniel
D
Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, USA. Danjacobs@rcn.com
D005197:Famous Persons; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D008568:Memory; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D014481:United States