title: Collected Stories
author:  Tennessee Williams 
description: lliams was famous for insisting he write every morning. Even during his darkest days, while mourning a lover, or abusing some substance -- and he abused most of them at one time or another -- he'd write. The stories in this volume, arranged chronologically, are from every period of his long life, and recreate the milieux Williams knew and chronicled so movingly -- from his gypsy youth in St. Louis and New Orleans to his days of celebrity in Hollywood and New York. Some are studies for his plays, and like them, their language can suddenly surprise you with a poetic image that shines like a jewel. This edition includes a useful publishing history for each of the fifty stories.<br>"One overpowering impression emerges from all these stories put together: Tennessee Williams knew more about the hidden life of far-flung America than any of us really suspected." -- Seymour Krim, Washington Post Book World<br>"By turns disturbing, moving, and funny; these stories help amplify Williams's tr
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  ![WILLIAMS_Tennessee_Memoirs-1.jpg](../cover1.jpeg)
  
  
  # MEMOIRS
  
  
  **TENNESSEE WILLIAMS**
  
  
  MEMOIRS
  
  
  **INTRODUCTION BY**
  
  
  **JOHN WATERS**
  
  
  ![WILLIAMS_Tennessee_Memoirs-3.jpg](images/WILLIAMS_Tennessee_Memoirs-3.jpg)**A
  NEW DIRECTIONS BOOK**
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # CONTENTS
  
  
  [Introduction by John Waters](05_INTRODUCTION.xhtml)
  
  
  [Foreword by Tennessee Williams](06_FOREWORD_split_000.xhtml)
  
  
  [_Memoirs_](07_MEMOIRS.xhtml)
  
  
  [Afterword by Allean Hale](19_AFTERWORD.xhtml)
  
  
  [List of Illustrations](20_LIST-OF-ILLUSTRATIONS.xhtml)
  
  
  [Index](21_INDEX.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  # INTRODUCTION
  
  
  ## _Mr. Williams Saved My Life_
  
  
  BY JOHN WATERS
  
  
  TENNESSEE WILLIAMS SAVED MY LIFE. As a
  
  
  twelve-year-old boy in suburban Baltimore, I would look up his name in the
  card
  
  
  catalogue at the library and it would read “see Librarian.” I wanted these
  
  
  “see Librarian” books—and I wanted them now—but in the late 1950s
  
  
  (and sadly even today), there was no way that a warped adolescent like myself
  could get
  
  
  his h