A Streetcar Named Desire

New York: New Directions, 1947. First Edition. Fine/Fine. The most famous post–modern American play. Fine in publisher’s pink boards, and fine, matching, pink dustjacket, a superb copy. Cover and jacket design by Alvin Lustig. Reference: Crandell A 5.1.a. Basis of the play and then the motion picture classic, both directed by Elia Kazan and both starring Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden (Vivian Leigh replaced Jessica Tandy in the film). The play won the Pulitzer Prize. Brando, Leigh and Hunter won Oscars for their performances in the film. Custom half morocco box. A pivotal work in American theater, marking a decisive shift in mid-century dramatic sensibilities through its unflinching portrayal of class conflict, sexuality, and psychological fragility beneath the veneer of post-war American society. The play's exploration of Blanche DuBois' tragic collision with Stanley Kowalski's brutal realism illuminates the broader cultural tensions between fading Southern aristocracy and emerging industrial working-class values at a moment when American identity was being profoundly reconfigured. Williams' innovative use of expressionistic techniques—including the haunting blue piano, symbolic lighting, and poetic dialogue—revolutionized theatrical language while his courageous engagement with previously taboo subjects such as mental illness, homosexuality, and sexual violence challenged the boundaries of censorship during an era of rigid social conformity. Through its visceral emotional impact and psychological complexity, "Streetcar" helped establish American drama as a serious literary form capable of confronting the deepest contradictions of the human condition, ultimately serving as a bridge between Tennessee Williams' own Southern Gothic sensibilities and the psychological realism that would come to dominate American theater in subsequent decades. (Inventory #: 1152)