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The Influence of Tennessee Williams: Essays on Fifteen American Playwrights Philip C. Kolin, ed. Jefferson: McFarland, 2008. 239 pp $39.95 paper
Edward Albee Toby Zinman Ann Arbor: U Michigan P, 2008. 176 pp $49.50 cloth; $18.95 paper
Two giants of the American stage, Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee, are the focal points of two recent books. The Influence of Tennessee Williams is a rich and varied collection of essays, each of which examines both major and minor works in relation to fifteen American playwrights from William Inge to Suzan Lori-Parks, incorporating a range of critical methodologies and subject positions. By contrast, the twenty-three vignette-like essays comprising Edward Albee treat most every one of his plays (except Fam and Yam and The Lorca Play) from the perspective of a single observer, noted Philadelphia Inquirer critic Toby Zinman.
Michael Greenwald's essay on Williams and Inge begins with a discussion of biographical parallels and the often discordant friendship between the two writers that serves to undergird some piquant questions regarding Kolin's anthology as a whole. Noting the similarities between Picnic and Battle of Angels, Greenwald considers the possibility that Inge imitated Williams's early play (Inge did not see Battle of Angels, but "perhaps" discussed it with Williams); conversely, Greenwald suggests that Williams, "admittedly jealous" of the success of Picnic, may have subsequently altered Battle of Angels to "compete" with Inge (23). Apart from their highly speculative nature, either suggestion accuses one of the two of being derivative, a charge tantamount to dismissal. If Williams is guilty, we dismiss an early and little-known play; if Inge is guilty, we dismiss a central play in his canon.
Questions as to the influence on Williams, as opposed to the influence of Williams, arise elsewhere, most notably in David Crespy's essay on Albee. That Albee (or perhaps the European playwrights who influenced Albee) influenced Williams has long been acknowledged, but isolating clear "moments of influence which may have flowed from Albee to Williams" (50) is tricky business. Crespy's comparison between the Young Man in The Sandbox and Jack-in-Black in The Mutilated is interesting but tenuous, as is often the case with attempts to trace influence definitively.
Perhaps as a...