Introduction to 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

About the lecture

In this module, we provide some literary and historical context for the play. Having introduced Tennessee Williams himself, we think about the United States of the late 1940s, a country that was in many ways still coming to terms with the impact of the US Civil War, and one which was to yet to experience the US Civil Rights movement of the mid-1950s and 1960s.

About the lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.