Ask The Puma Research Guides: A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire

One of Tennessee Williams’s  most famous plays is A Streetcar Named Desire, published in 1947.  This tragic drama concerns a neurotic woman, Blanche DuBois, who is raped by her brutal brother-in-law.

LINCCWeb online catalog – Search Terms

• Streetcar Named Desire  (Title)
• Streetcar Named Desire  (Subject)
• Williams, Tennessee  (Subject)

Call Number for Browsing the Shelves

• PS3545 .I5365

Circulating Books – A Selected List

• Bloom, Harold (Ed.).  Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. 1988.  
  • Call Number: PS3545 .I5365  S8275  1988
• Crandell, George (Ed.).  The Critical Response to Tennessee Williams. 1996.
  • Call Number: PS3545 .I5365  Z616  1996   
• Griffin, Alice.  Understanding Tennessee Williams. 1995.
  • Call Number: PS3545 .I5365  Z664 1995
• Martin, Robert (Ed.).  Critical Essays on Tennessee Williams. 1997.
  • Call Number: PS3545 .I5365  Z615  1997
• Paller, Michael. Gentlemen Callers: Tennessee Williams. . .  2005. 
  • Call Number: PS3545 . I5365  Z799  2005
• Williams, Tennessee.  A Streetcar Named Desire. 1974.
  • Call Number: PS3545  .I5365  S8  1974  
• Bak, S. John. Tennessee Williams: A Literary Life. 2013. 
  • Call Number: PS3545.I5365 Z5735 2013
• Bottoms, Stephen J. A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams. 2014. 
  • Call Number: PS3545.I5365 Z555 2014
• Adler, Thomas P. Tennessee Willams: A Streetcar Named Desire/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 2013. 
  • Call Number: PS3545.I5365 Z55 2013
• Murphy, Brenda. Critical Insights: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. 2010.
  • Call Number: PS3545.I5365 S8274 2010

Reference Materials

• Contemporary Literary Criticism. – Call Number: REF PN771 .C59
  • Vol. 11, pgs. 572-577
  • Vol. 30, pgs. 454-473
  • Vol. 39, pgs. 445-453 
  • Vol. 71, pgs. 265-266, 382, 387, 399, 405
  • Vol. 111, pgs. 377-425
• Drama Criticism. – Call Number: REF PN1625 .D72
  • Vol. 4, pgs. 371-432
• Drama for Students. – Call Number: REF PN1601 .D595 1998
  • Vol. 1, pgs. 281-297
• Masterplots (Revised Second Edition). –  Call Number: REF PN44 .M33 1996
  • Vol. 11,  pgs. 6313-6317
• Literature and Its Times. – Call Number: REF PN50 .L574 1997
  • Vol. 4, pgs. 364-370

Research Databases

To access Valencia’s research databases, open your Atlas account, select ‘Search the Library’, then select ‘Databases A-Z’.

• Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
• JSTOR
• Literature (Gale) 
• Films on Demand (Infobase Publishing) 

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Films on Demand - Database 

• A Streetcar Named Desire in Context 
  • From Series: Library Contexts: American Literature 
  • DESCRIPTION: By the mid-20th century, New Orleans had gone from a city modernised by the Jazz Age to a hub of poverty and crime. While middle-class Americans thrived, poor and marginalised segments of the population continued to struggle. This video explores how the idea of the American Dream inspired and influenced Tennessee Williams’ play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. It provides a valuable accompaniment to students studying this text.
• "A Streetcar Named Desire" (SEGMENT)
  • From Title: Elia Kazan 
  • DESCRIPTION: Kazan filmed "A Streetcar Named Desire," which he had directed four years earlier on Broadway. Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Vivien Leigh starred in the adaptation. Brando reunited with the director to shoot "Viva Zapata."
• "A Streetcar Named Desire" (SEGMENT) 
  • From Title: Tennessee Williams and the American South
  • DESCRIPTION: By the time he returns to New Orleans, Williams is a self-professed obsessive playwright. "The Poker Night" is soon renamed "A Streetcar Named Desire," a story symbolizing shattered dreams of domination in the southern states.
• Film Censors Object to "Streetcar Named Desire"  (SEGMENT)

  • From Title: Sex, Censorship, and the Silver Screen: The 1950s and '60s

  • DESCRIPTION: Despite its Pulitzer Prize status, Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire" was considered "too hot" for Hollywood. Movie censors object to the script's underlying sexual repression, homosexuality, nymphomania, and rape.

This Research Guide is designed to help users find information on a particular topic within the Valencia College East Campus Library.  This is by no means a comprehensive list of resources and other resources may be available on this topic.  Please check LINCCWeb, Valencia East’s online catalog, to verify the availability of circulating books within the library.  Feel free to ask a librarian for help if you need further assistance.