20 greatest works of fiction about New Orleans

11. A Streetcar Named Desire

It’s got to be the heat. That’s almost certainly why Tennessee Williams’ characters are always on the verge of a dramatically pleasing breakdown. It’s hard to hold yourself together when, on top of all the psychosexual drama, it’s boiling hot outside. In fact, according to Daniel Mallory Ortberg, everyone in a Williams play would be perfectly reasonable if only they had some air conditioning and a nice glass of iced tea.

Alas, there is no such thing for the characters in A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche DuBois, her married sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski, along with others, are frankly a great, big mess. That hasn’t stopped critics from loving the 1947 play, however. Williams’ work won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has entered the canon as one of his greatest works. It’s also one of his most adapted plays, with films, television specials, ballets and even an opera resulting from the original work.

It all begins when Blanche loses the family home, Belle Reve, to creditors. As a result, she’s forced to move from Laurel, Mississippi to New Orleans, where her sister and brother-in-law live. Though Blanche is taking advantage of their kindness, she’s also a jerk to Stella and Stanley. She criticizes their small apartment and refers to the rough Stanley as “common.”

Things look up for Blanche when she starts to make friends in the city. However, this being a Tennessee Williams play, plenty of Southern Gothic disaster and simmering tension looms ahead for just about everybody.