Kind strangers? Physicians through the eyes of Tennessee Williams

Abstract

In Louisiana, Tennessee Williams is usually thought of as a famous denizen of the French Quarter or perhaps as our greatest playwright. Medicine rarely enters into it. Illness, however, particularly mental illness, shaped much of Williams' life and his work. The playwright had mixed feelings about physicians and their effect on his life and that of his close relations. These feelings worked their way into his plays. Through it all Williams gives a vivid, humorous, and deeply truthful image of the doctor-patient relationship in the first half of the twentieth century. Here we give a brief review of medicine in Williams' work.