QuoteProject
Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental. It is not realistic.
Tennessee Williams
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects on the nature of memory and how it influences the representation of experiences.

Tennessee Williams highlights that a 'memory play' is characterized by its soft, sentimental lighting and its departure from realism. This implies that such plays explore the emotional landscapes of characters' recollections rather than presenting events as they truly occurred, emphasizing the subjective nature of memory and its role in shaping our understanding of the past.

Themes

MemoryArtSentimentalTheaterRealism

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on modern theater, one might quote Williams to illustrate how memory shapes narrative.

More from Tennessee Williams

Maggie, we're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Time rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Show me a person who hasn´t known any sorrow and I´ll show you a superficial.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Success and failure are equally disastrous.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die — with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.
Tennessee WilliamsRead
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
Tennessee WilliamsRead

Similar quotes

I am never happier than when I have something to compose, for that, after all, is my sole delight and passion
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartRead
I believe that the reason why I love painting so much is that it forces one to be objective. There is nothing I hate more than sentimentality.
Max BeckmannRead
The artist is a strange being. I think it's safe to say that a real artist is conscious of having a personal singularity that is partly a blessing and partly a curse. An artist enjoys and suffers from isolation. As solitude, isolation can nurture. It can also destroy.
Peter SchjeldahlRead
When the artist finds himself he is lost. The fact that he has succeeded in never finding himself is regarded by Max Ernst as his only lasting achievement.
Max ErnstRead
I can only think of music as something inherent in every human being - a birthright. Music coordinates mind, body and spirit.
Yehudi MenuhinRead
I think it's insulting to an audience to make them sit and watch a film and then give them a message in one sentence.
Asghar FarhadiRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.