Rare Tennessee Williams story published for the first time

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) — As she takes in the despair of her in-laws' one-room apartment in "A Streetcar Named Desire," Blanche Dubois exclaims, "Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe! could do it justice!"

Year earlier, Tennessee Williams channeled Poe for an entire story.

Williams' "The Eye That Saw Death," appearing in the spring issue of The Strand Magazine, is a feverish, 4,800-word horror tale clearly inspired by the patron of the genre. Recently unearthed by Strand managing editor Andrew F. Gulli, "The Eye That Saw Death" is narrated by an unnamed man who has suffered from a seemingly incurable disease that has left him nearly blind. At age 30, he receives an eye transplant that restores his sight, but leaves him with ghoulish side effects. The narrator is afflicted with visions that begin as a "chaotic blur," then become more focused and traumatizing, whether "huge, black, bulging eyes" or "terrible, tusk-like teeth."

The new eye, it turns out, belonged to a convicted killer. The narrator begs to have the surgery reversed.

"It is true that the pleasures of the blind are few and frugal," Williams writes. "They live apart from the world and participate little in its affairs. But I do not regret that choice I made the day I fell, raving mad with horror, to the floor of the oculist's office. Oh, never! Far, far better to be blind than to see with the eye that saw death!"

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/14eee4db1eea4b8d9f1d7f24a1824dd7/rare-tennessee-williams-story-published-first-time

---

Marta is a reader. She loves Poe and Williams 'The Vengeance of Nitocris'

[Bluenorthwest]

1. I once met Tennessee Williams

And was seated just behind him for a performance of 'Eccentricities of a Nightingale' starring Sandy Dennis. Williams enjoyed the performance greatly. It was insightful because he very often laughed when the rest of us did not and in that way I discovered the depths of the dark and sweet humor often overlooked in his works. Like Chekhov.

[Tom Ripley]

3. Oh, I envy you.

I have heard of audience members being aghast at Williams laughing during performances of 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
"But it is a comedy, darling!"

[Bluenorthwest]

4. He was as interesting as his legend suggested, and I have to agree that his plays have far more

humor than is generally found in production of his work. He had a really wild, distinct laugh. Perhaps the only laugh I have ever heard that actually seemed to have a Southern accent.....

[IveWornAHundredPants]

5. Well, him and maybe Roscoe P. Coltrane.

Q-Q-Q!

[Tom Ripley]

2. I was thinking this sounds like it is in the pulpy vein of "The Vengeance of Nitocris"

I love me some Williams. I did a lot of graduate work on him.
Poe's not half-bad either.
Two American Geniuses.
Thanks for the heads up.

[appalachiablue]

6. We saw Williams house in Key West when it was listed for sale in the 90s. The street, house &

neighborhood were used in 'The Rose Tattoo ' (1955), the film version of Williams play with Anna Magnani & Burt Lancaster. In one part of the film the writer appears in a cameo scene at a local bar. There on holiday we noticed the RE ad in the local newspaper; phoned the casual realtor, met the next day & toured the house, grounds & the pool Williams specially installed. Couldn't believe the ease of viewing his residence.

It was a comfortable, 1-story home entirely empty except for several built-in bookshelves & Williams typewriter sitting eerily on a small table. I remember pausing to look at the setting, the artifact of the work of such a great writer & thinking how amazing it was but also forlorn. The opportunity to see the place where the playwright lived & worked for so many years on a whim was an incredibly special experience. The property was never to be purchased or used for any commercial purposes the realtor said. I mentioned the visit to a friend of my brother who was an artist in NY & met Williams once in Key West.

Williams moved around quite a lot but settled for 15 years at the Hotel Elysee, a vintage 1920s landmark New York hotel with the famous piano "Monkey Bar". There was a suite for him, another for Marlon Brando & those for other notables. In Nov. 1948 actress Tallulah Bankhead celebrated Truman's victory over Dewey there with a lively party that lasted five days.

One nickname for the property attributed to Williams was 'easy lay', no surprise with his humor. A guest once complained at 5 am to the front desk of noise from a neighbor's typewriter. They knew who it was & decided to move the caller to another room. We stayed at the Elysee once, had a pleasant experience in the old place (no ghosts!) including lounging briefly in the Monkey Bar. Williams died at the hotel in 1983.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. I believe it was

in a play of his on TV that a female character made a remark to a detective of an extremely sardonic, hilarious nature, to the effect that she was only a ditzy blonde, so she couldn't be expected to understand things that a brunette might, however.....

Something along those lines, anyway. I wonder if anyone recognizes the passage and the play?

[Gore1FL]

8. I wonder what makes it rare or rarer than any of his other works. n/t

[HuckleB]

9. K & R!