PJAS 12 Spring-9
Michał Choiński
Hyperbolic Bodies for Sale: The Figurative Representations of Prostitutes in Tennessee Williams’s Early Works
Polish Journal for American Studies, vol. 12 (Spring 2018) pp. 129-141
Abstract:
The article examines representations of prostitutes in the early works of Tennessee Williams. The characters of hustlers in two of his two short stories, “In Memory of an Aristocrat” (1940) and “One Arm” (1942-45) as well as one short drama, “Hello from Bertha” (1941), are discussed as representatives of Williams’s employment of the hyperbolic figuration. In the case of each of the three examined characters, Choiński discusses the excessive and contrastive elements of descriptions which allow Williams to investigate the grotesqueness of human physicality on sale.
Keywords: Tennessee Williams, literary hyperbole, figurative excess, Southern literature
DOI: 10.7311/PJAS.12/1/2018.09