I bought this book when it came out in, but never read it. Reading recently Lahr’s piece on Buster Keaton in the LRB and also Cat on a Hot Tin Roof reminded me of this really excellent biography. Lahr balances really well that emotional life - the pilgrimage of the title - with very evocative and acute depictions of the creation and stagings of the plays. I also like the way we jump straight into the book, at rehearsals for The Glass Menagerie.

This book attests to Lahr’s knowledge and experience as theatre critic and of course, his gift for style and narrative. I doubt if a better biography of Williams is possible. I wish someone would bring out Lahr’s biography of Joe Orton in the UK in eBook form. ( )

There is a lot of interesting material here, but this book is a mess. (The subtitle should be your first hint.) Overwrought in some places, poorly organized, and confusing at times. Someday someone will write a great biography of Tennessee Williams. This isn't it. ( )

There is a lot of interesting material here, but this book is a mess. (The subtitle should be your first hint.) Overwrought in some places, poorly organized, and confusing at times. Someday someone will write a great biography of Tennessee Williams. This isn't it. ( )

Everything you ever wanted to know about Tennessee Williams perhaps the greatest American dramatist and more. A tremendously well researched biography chock full of interesting photos of his friends, family, lovers and professional acquaintances. Williams was a lonely troubled man who grew up in a dysfunctional family, He was able to write about his life in his plays using his characters to represent those around him. There is drinking, drugs, lovers and thoughtful introspection and writing plays gave this insecure author a therapy of sorts. I loved this book and see why it got all the acclaim that it did. ( )

5259. Tennessee Williams Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, by John Lahr (read 27 Mar 2015) (National Book Critics Circle biography award for 2014) This won the National Book Critics Circle biography award for 2014, and though I have no huge interest in theater I try to read all such winners. It is a big book (602 pages of text, a neat and helpful 10-page chronology, 105 pages of Notes, 6 pages of Sources, 9 pages of Credits, and an index).It is pretty exhaustive in discussing the plays and this is interesting when dealing with the best-known plays, most of which I have read or seen the movies made therefrom, but the attention to the less well-known plays I admit were a drag to read. There is a huge amount of attention paid to Williams's boyfriends, which was not inspiring reading. While Williams was clearly a major figure in American theater, it was annoying to realize how many dumb things he did. He did become a Catholic, though that his conversion had any effect on his attitude toward the Sixth Commandment does not appear in this account. For much of the reading I was not exuberantly interested but when I had finished the book I was glad to have read it, since it really does a good job showing the stature of Williams in the drama world of his time and in the time since. Since he became successful early with The Glass Menagerie, he never had any money problems and spent money in ways that seemed to me extremely foolish--but his income even after his death has been great and his plays are often performed--to the benefit of his estate. ( )