This revised Student Edition includes an introduction by Bess Rowen Assistant Professor at
Villanova University US which looks in particular at the play's treatment of rape vulnerable
people mental institutions (especially in connection to Williams's own family) sexuality and
sexual desire. A Streetcar Named Desire shows a turbulent confrontation between traditional
values in the American South - an old-world graciousness and beauty running decoratively to
seed - set against the rough-edged aggressive materialism of the new world. Through the
vividly characterised figures of Southern belle Blanche Dubois seeking refuge from physical
ugliness in decayed gentility and her brutal brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski Tennessee
Williams dramatises his sense of the South's past as still active and often destructive in
modern America. METHUEN DRAMA STUDENT EDITIONS are expertly annotated texts of a wide range of
plays from the modern and classic repertoires. A well as the complete text of the play itself
this volume contains: · A chronology of the play and the playwright's life and work · An
introductory discussion of the social political cultural and economic context in which the
play was originally conceived and created · A succinct overview of the creation processes
followed and subsequent performance history of the piece · An analysis of and commentary on
some of the major themes and specific issues addressed by the text · A bibliography of
suggested primary and secondary materials for further study
