BOOKS
DECEMBER 8, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 25
How shy and lonely Tom became celebrated artist Tennessee
Tom: The Unknown
Tennessee Williams
by Lyle Leverich
Crown Publishers. $35.00.
Reviewed by Barry Daniels
Tennessee Williams was one of this century's greatest playwrights, and one of its most famous queers. He has been the subject of several biographies both before
ΤΟ Μ
The Unknown TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
and after his death in 1983. The basic facts of his life are reasonably well known, and they are, of course, the source for much of his work.
Lyle Leverich was authorized by Will iams to write a new and definitive biography. Lady Maria St. Just, Williams's literary
executrix, became increasingly difficult to deal with, and managed to stall publication of Leverich's work. Her death last year has made it possible for the publication of Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams, the first volume of Leverich's biography. It is a massive work (672 pages) covering the first thirty-four years of Williams's life. Leverich has had access to correspondance and diaries that have not been used by previous biographers, and he has conducted numerous interviews with Williams's friends and colleagues.
Leverich's thesis is fairly simple: "In Tennessee Williams, there was a psychic split between the gentle, poetic Dakin side of his nature and the hard, aggressive Williams side, an irreconcilable division that made him 'half-mad,' as he would say over and over again." Ironically, it was the strength he inherited from his hated father that gave him the will to succeed, while his insecurities and personal failures seem to come from his supportive and much loved maternal grandparents. Leverich rightly sees that in Williams, "the artist was the rational force and the man the irrational dissembler."
Although I can't say there is much depth to Leverich's analysis, nor much flair in his writing, he has succeeded in pasting together his sources in a way that finally makes for compelling reading. The voices of the key people in Williams's formative years— his grandparents, his mother, his sister-are vividly present. And Williams's own voice is heard more truthfully than ever before. His profound sense of isolation and loneliness is a constant torment for the young writer. In his 1936 diary, Williams noted: "Another decent thing about me is my tolerance and my love of people and my gentle-
9% of the year, Clevelanders are treated to pure, unadulterated sunlight.
Which means that 91% of the year, you might be hankering to go
go elsewhere.
Green RoadTravel
2111 South Green Road, 216 381-8060 Open Weekdays 9-5:30, Saturdays 10-2
"On the 12th day of XXX-Mas,
my true love gave to me..."
Leather. whips & paddles; Pride flags. banners & windsox candles. jewelry. T-shirts; videos to rent or purchase, holiday cards and music: and lots more goodies. whether they've been naughty or nice!
Body Language
Corner of W. 115 & Lorain
Mon-Sat Noon-9pm, Sun
(216) 251-3330
Noon-5pm
ness toward them. I think I have acquired that through suffering and loneliness." And three years later he wrote: "All my deep loves and friendships have hurt me finally-I mean have caused me pain, because I have felt so much more than the other person could feel."
Williams was ambivalent about his homosexuality through most of his life. He has been quoted as saying, "All homosexuals have to live with a deep wound that never heals." This is very much the statement of someone who grew up in the 1930s, and a reflection on what it meant to be queer in America before gay liberation. Although Leverich does not analyze this idea, he pro-
vides enough material that the astute reader can begin to understand the personal torment Williams's world created for him. And, to some extent, in dealing with his "difference," shy and lonely Tom became the celebrated artist Tennessee.
In my own tortured adolescence, Williams was my hero: someone who spoke to me directly. I think his work had this effect for many gay men of my generation. Leverich's portrait makes it possible to understand who Tennessee Williams was, and allows us to understand the very real differences and important connections between his life and work.
Art Classes
evening and weekend classes begin January 23 Painting⚫ Interior Design⚫ Glassblowing. Decorative Painting for the Home • Sculpture. Calligraphy Photography. Computer Art⚫ Jewelry
plus... Pay-you-go Life Drawing Wednesday evenings, 7-9pm $10 at the door, no registration ·
For a free brochure with a complete list of classes call 421-7461
СІЛ
Cleveland Institute of Art 11141 East Boulevard in University Circle
Calorie Gallery II
3710 Carnegie
Way Cool Menu
Way Cool Managers
Our Staff is 99% Brat Free!
All of the Fun None of the Attitude!
431.6990
Picture Perfect Lunch and
Dinner Six Days a Week.