“For instance, suppose a plaintiff known as Dubois
Somehow engages the services of an attorney
To prosecute a defendant known as Kowalski . . .”
                       —from “Kicks,” by Tennessee Williams 

Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski face off in court in Tennessee Williams’s poem “Kicks,” an archival gem whose print debut opens the 2021 Tennessee Williams Annual Review. Inside, essays question Tom Wingfield’s memory, listen for Williams’s echoes of John Donne, explore archives in six states in order to track the playwright’s power struggle with Elia Kazan over Sweet Bird of Youth, and invite readers to experience a colorful and terrifying Viennese production of A Streetcar Named Desire.   

Founded in 1998, the Tennessee Williams Annual Review remains the only regularly published journal devoted to Williams’s works, influence, and cultural context. Many issues showcase a previously unpublished work by Williams. Submission guidelines and back issues are available at tennesseewilliamsstudies.org. 

Cover image: Nils Hohenhövel, Alaedin Gamian, Katharina Klar, Birgit Stöger, Günter Franzmeier, and Jan Thümer in Endstation Sehnsucht (2019); photo by Peter Griesser