The Glass Menagerie (Critical Article #1)
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association http://apa.sagepub.com Tennessee Williams: The Uses of Declarative Memory in the Glass Menagerie
Daniel Jacobs J Am Psychoanal Assoc 2001; 50; 1259 DOI: 10.1177/00030651020500040901 The online version of this article can be found at: http://apa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/50/4/1259
Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:
American Psychoanalytic Association
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Daniel Jacobs
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TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: THE USES OF DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Tennessee Williams called his first great work, The Glass Menagerie, his “memory play.” The situation in which Williams found himself when he began writing the play is explored, as are the ways in which he used the declarative memory of his protagonist, Tom Wingfield, to express and deal with his own painful conflicts. Williams’s use of stage directions, lighting, and music to evoke memory and render it three-dimensional is described. Through a close study of The Glass Menagerie, the many uses of memory for the purposes of wish fulfillment, conflict resolution, and resilience are examined.
T
he place: St. Louis, Missouri. The year: 1943. Thomas Lanier Williams, age thirty-two, known as Tennessee, has returned to his parents’ home. He has had a few minor successes. Several of his shorter plays have been produced by the Mummers in St. Louis. For another, staged by the Webster Grove Theater Guild, he was awarded an engraved silver cake plate.
Daniel Jacobs J Am Psychoanal Assoc 2001; 50; 1259 DOI: 10.1177/00030651020500040901 The online version of this article can be found at: http://apa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/50/4/1259
Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:
American Psychoanalytic Association
Additional services and information for Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association can be found at: Email Alerts: http://apa.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://apa.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations http://apa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/50/4/1259
Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009
jap a
Daniel Jacobs
50/4
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: THE USES OF DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE
Tennessee Williams called his first great work, The Glass Menagerie, his “memory play.” The situation in which Williams found himself when he began writing the play is explored, as are the ways in which he used the declarative memory of his protagonist, Tom Wingfield, to express and deal with his own painful conflicts. Williams’s use of stage directions, lighting, and music to evoke memory and render it three-dimensional is described. Through a close study of The Glass Menagerie, the many uses of memory for the purposes of wish fulfillment, conflict resolution, and resilience are examined.
T
he place: St. Louis, Missouri. The year: 1943. Thomas Lanier Williams, age thirty-two, known as Tennessee, has returned to his parents’ home. He has had a few minor successes. Several of his shorter plays have been produced by the Mummers in St. Louis. For another, staged by the Webster Grove Theater Guild, he was awarded an engraved silver cake plate.
Citations: http://apa.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/50/4/1259 Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; faculty, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Submitted for publication October 12, 2001. Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 Daniel Jacobs Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 1261 Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 1263 1264 Davis (2001) points out the contribution declarative memory can make to resilience “through soothing af fects that are evoked in recalling a declarative memory of a loving relationship with a parent or other important person” (p Downloaded from http://apa.sagepub.com at CALIFORNIA DIGITAL LIBRARY on September 9, 2009 DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN THE GLASS MENAGERIE