A collection of early short stories by Tennessee Williams seemed like something that would be right up my alley and, in many ways, it was.
I have always been a huge fan of TW’s work and even directed some of his short plays about eight years ago. His short stories, a collection of about 30 in the case of this book, offer early insight into the mind of the man who would go on to be one of the most influential playwrights of his generation.
I read these over the period of about a month – much longer than it usually takes me to read a book – and I think this disjointed dipping in and out did not help my appreciation for the stories which, naturally, are beautifully written but are, thematically, quite similar.
We see a lot of Williams’s favoured topics in this collection – overbearing mothers, abusive fathers, the struggle of the artist and listlessness of a ‘normal’ job. Almost every aspect of the human condition is on display here and I would urge any reader to not necessarily read the whole book in a short period, but read each story in one sitting in order to truly appreciate the intricacies of each.
Some of my favourites included: ‘Stair to the Roof’, ‘The Caterpillar Dogs’, ‘Apt. F, 3rd Flo. So.’, ‘Nirvana’, ‘Souvenir for Bennie and Eva’, ‘Byron, the Campus Poet’, ‘An Afternoon of for Death’, ‘They Go Like a Thistle, He Said’, and ‘Ate Toadstools but Didn’t Quite Die’.
The short glossary at the end of the book provides some historical and biographical context for each story which gives an idea of just the level of meaning that Williams imbues in each word.
I will likely read these again, but at a time when I can complete each story in one sitting.

My thanks to the University of Iowa Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Early Stories of Tennessee Williams offer a fascinating glimpse into the molten core of a playwright not yet hardened into his later theatrical form, but already seething with lyricism, longing, and doom. These pieces—glimpses of lonely rooms, sweltering streets, and fragile psyches—brim with the aching cadences and sensual undercurrents that would later define his major works. Williams writes with the tremulous intensity of someone eavesdropping on his own soul, catching the faint, operatic cries of characters teetering between anonymity and revelation. What emerges is not juvenilia, but a constellation of bruised pearls—early missives from a voice that would come to haunt the American stage.

This collection of short stories by Tennessee Williams were unpublished until now. This collection is an important read because we start to see his development of themes and characters - including some very close to autobiographical (working in his father's shoe factory, his relationship with his sister and mother, etc.) These stories are amazing and the essays included that give us context are well-written and helpful. I really enjoyed these stories and his writing. HIs talent is apparent even at a young age. I highly recommend this collection of early stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and University of Iowa Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

Great Collection of Barely-Read Dramatic Stories of Tennessee Williams’
Tom Mitchell, Ed., Early Stories by Tennessee Williams (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, April 15, 2025). Paperback: $20. 328pp, 6X9”. ISBN: 979-1-68597-004-8.
*****
“An edited collection of thirty-one previously unpublished short stories written in the 1930s, when Tennessee Williams” (1911-1983) “was living in the Midwest during a tumultuous period for the nation and himself. The stories highlight aspects of the writer’s biography relative to his young adult years in St. Louis, Columbia, and the Missouri Ozarks, offering insight into the relationships between the author, his family, and close friends.” It is a bad idea for biographers to base interpretations of an author’s life on what he or she states in their fiction. One problem comes up if work was ghostwritten by somebody else, who is describing their own relations, and not the contractors. “The influence of proletarian fiction and leftist ideas are evident in Williams’s stories of the Great Depression, as are themes of sexual turmoil and inner passions inspired by authors like D. H. Lawrence. In notes for each story, additional context is provided regarding locations, occupations, and individuals. All of this enriches a critical understanding of Tennessee Williams’s major works such as The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana, and Suddenly Last Summer.” I recall reading Streetcar (1951) in school: it’s a play about a wealthy socialite leaving wealth to live in a cheap apartment in New Orleans. He is mostly known for his plays, and for turning them into screenplays or popular movies. The art of finding high-drama in ordinary conflict between characters is certainly something modern writers can learn from. In the 1930s, Williams was entirely unknown, working menial jobs until his LA agent helped him win a major play grant in 1939, after which he took off. Thus, it is certainly important to go back to what he was writing during these early years, as his work declined post-fame, so maybe it was better before it.
This book only has a short introduction and conclusion, and mostly focuses on presenting the stories themselves. The “Introduction” opens with a long speech given in Williams’ “sociopolitical fantasy play Stairs to the Roof” that describes fighting against the “Depression” in 1934. I tried to search for this title to see how it reads, but it seems it is only mentioned in commentary, as it is a full-length play and probably would not have fit; it is about “a frustrated clerk trying to escape his job” (279). This play is mentioned to compare it to included short stories, such as “Autumn Sunlight” “about the lonely suicide of a neighborhood organ grinder”, and several other stories that describe suicide: “Grenada”, “Corduroy”, “Ate”, “None But the Lonely Heart”. I mentioned problems with handling too lightly in a vampire story in this set of reviews, so I want to take a look at how it is handled by a great like Williams. It seems the short-story version of the play is “Stair to the Roof”, where the suicide is not a “mystery” as in “Autumn Sunlight”, but rather lead “unambiguously to a suicide outcome” (278). The back of the book provides summaries of each of the stories, which should be helpful to students who need introductions, or researchers who are searching for comparative points (309).
Looking inside “Stair to the Roof (or Episodes from the Life of a Clerk)” does prove Williams knows how to handle a suicide. The story starts with a body dropping to “the concrete. One limb, amputated by the cornice, slid several feet along the walk. It splashed the black skirts of a candy vendor. She screamed and fainted” (233). This opening meets the requirement that a story must start in the middle of the action or at the climax. It also examines and draws the details of how this scene looks unflinchingly. If an author is going to describe a suicide, they really must be willing to look at the body, just as a coroner might. The emotional appeal is also succinctly handled as the woman merely screams and faints at this truly gruesome sight. It would be less impactful if more details regarding her reaction, or what she said about it interrupted this heightened-emotionally action scene. Then, the crowd is shown to be gawking at the corpse to stress it is an interesting sight for the public. And some reflections are offered about the struggle between looking and averting gazes at the sight of death. Then, a traffic-cop is introduced to pressure the crowd away, thus inviting readers to look closer because this is a forbidden sight. Then, somebody asks simply “What happened?” The simply answer is that somebody jumped off the roof, but then the rest of the story offers the exposition regarding what led this guy to take his own life. Readers have seen the climax, and have been encouraged to read on to receive the detailed answer regarding what motivated this violent conclusion. Then, the story picks up with an exposition about the Atlantic Shoemakers company, with back-shadowing mentions of it having “a short flight of steps” to a chamber that controls “the freight elevators” (234). This helps explain the title, and clarifies that the clerk works in this space and has negative feelings about this claustrophobic setup. An intricately detailed drawing of the rest of the space follows before a note that the “roof is no longer accessible” because it is locked with “chains”, with a joke foreshadowing: “It is probably an unnecessary precaution.” Then a clerk called Edward Schiller is described climbing in secret to this roof to enjoy “a brief illusion of escape”, as he took in the view of the “ocean” and a sense of “flight” this height inspired (235). The lack of social mobility for this clerk is explained is a single succinct paragraph that describes his childhood, family, and a sense of staleness (236). Then, abuse is mentioned, and reprimands from teachers to stop writing about “things” that “don’t exist”, as he senses he is beginning to go mad by seeing a “blue ghost” (237). The rest of the story opens up with more casual chatter, and conversations”, before the psychology or thinking that led to the jump are summarized, and then we are taken back to the scene after the body is seen falling (249). Most of the story’s interior when a reader might be tempted to skim is full of relevant details that add further explanations for the jump, and so somebody who skimmed to the end would be tempted to go back and read the rest. And after the jump there is a brief half-page resolution where the officer asks about witnesses, and the scene is cleaned up: “The show was over” (249). This combination of detail and choppy dialogue seems to be the style most popular fiction writers are imitating, but they tend to digress within paragraphs that promise in their opening to cover a single topic, or they tend to have irrelevant dialogue, instead of focusing the conversation on the body or even under scrutiny. And the structure of this story is appealing because it is surprising, as opposed to the standard way of handling a suicide-narrative. By contrast, another story in this collection about a suicide, “Grenada to West Plains”, the narrative starts with a salesman having a difficult time selling shoes from Novelty Footwear in the city of Grenada: “He had talked himself hoarse, passed out fifteen-cent cigars” and paid for a “dinner”, having to sit through an annoying conversation (39). It is not even clear at the end if somebody has died, as the shoe-selling carries on. The theme of deadly depressing and pointless jobs and marriages is extremely common among American canonical fiction and drama; it seems the Americans picked up on this realism in a wave after the Brits abandoned naturalism by 1900. Curiously, “Grenada” ends with a scribbled note from the author, who gives himself the pseudonym “Thomas Lanier Williams” while accurately reporting the year he was born, where he studied, and where he was published.
This is a great book for writers to buy to learn about the craft of short fiction from somebody known to be great, and yet whose short stories have had almost no exposure, and thus they will surprise and delight readers for the first time. The thorough commentary would also help teachers who want to teach this book in their classes, in place of common novels or plays that too many students probably read before.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

If you read any these stories without knowing their author’s , it would become increasingly clear that they are works by Tennessee Williams..Similar themes permeates his writing, often filled with glimpses of moments in time of tragic characters stuck in an unsatisfying life. Not all of the stories contain the usual doom and gloom but Tennessee Williams had a style, well before he adopted his nom de plume and achieved success. If you like his well-known works, you’ll be intrigued by this collection….

A collection of "slice of life" stories that do not take long to read at all, making it hard to lose your spot or interest.
Heavily feature themes that are easy to spot in his most popular works. The writing is brilliant as always but I do think the selection can feel a bit repetitive.

I was given a copy of Early Stories by Tennessee Williams from Goodreads and the University of Iowa Press in exchange for an honest review.
I feel disingenuous in requesting these short stories as I am not a short story aficionado. Stories that last the length of a song or two will never stay in the head; in some ways, it's akin to reading a features piece in a newspaper. However, Williams' only novel, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, remains a powerful, haunting read, so I was intrigued by what material emanated from this collection.

Like Tennessee's later characters, these fringe characters feel too much and lack social cohesion and hunger for connection. Corduroy Pants (or a Pack of Cigarettes) is probably the most pressing example of this, although Dago Hill nicely characterises the broader neighborhood setup so wonderfully utilized in Streetcar. Some stories list like Grenada to West Plains, but all I read are authentically in Williams' voice.

Coupled with my struggles with short stories and the opaque qualities of Williams' writing, I will continue to read these stories bit by bit, but the writing is at a medium level.

This is a treat for Williams fans, especially after such a big gap in time. As a Mississippian, this will get some press and attention.

These are classic stories that I really enjoyed. Williams was a great writer, writing about a country with dreams and hopes... Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Early Stories by Tennessee Williams offered a fascinating a diverse collection of tales which are interesting to read in their own right as well as from the point of view of foreshadowing his later, major writings. Most are slice-of-life vignettes and character studies that offer an intriguing glimpse of a wide range of characters and situations. As always with such collections, certain stories will appeal more to different readers, but it is such a wide mix, there is sure to be something here for every reader to enjoy. If you like short stories, I recommend this collection even if you are not already familiar with Tennessee Williams' plays, as you do not need to know those to appreciate these tales, though for those who do, the short stories will offer an additional layer of interest. I am giving this book 4.5 stars.