Editing Tennessee Williams (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Houghton - MS Thr 553 (6). Tennessee Williams age 5.jpg|alt=Tennessee Williams (age 5) in Clarksdale, MS.|thumb|upright|Williams at age 5 (1916) in [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]]]]
[[File:Tennessee Williams' Childhood Home.jpg|thumb|Childhood Home in [[Columbus, Mississippi]]]]

Thomas Lanier Williams III was born in [[Columbus, Mississippi]], of English, Welsh, and [[Huguenot]] ancestry, the second child of Edwina Dakin (August 9, 1884 – June 1, 1980) and Cornelius Coffin "C. C." Williams (August 21, 1879 – March 27, 1957).<ref name=Cambridge>{{cite book| editor-last=Roudané| editor-first=Matthew Charles| title=The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams| publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=1997| url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgecompani00matt| url-access=registration| quote=| page=xvi| isbn=978-0521498838}}</ref> His father was a traveling shoe salesman who became an alcoholic and was frequently away from home. His mother, Edwina, was the daughter of Rose O. Dakin, a music teacher, and the Reverend Walter Dakin, an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] priest from Illinois who was assigned to a parish in [[Clarksdale, Mississippi]], shortly after Williams's birth.  Williams lived in his grandfather's Episcopal rectory with his family for much of his early childhood and was close to his grandparents. Among his ancestors was musician and poet [[Sidney Lanier]].

He had two siblings, older sister Rose Isabel Williams (1909–1996)<ref>{{cite news| last=Hoare| first=Philip| title=Obituary: Rose Williams| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rose-williams-1362925.html| work=The Independent| access-date=December 26, 2013| location=London| date=September 12, 1996| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122203846/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-rose-williams-1362925.html| archive-date=January 22, 2014| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref> and younger brother Walter Dakin Williams<ref>{{cite news| last=Cuthbert| first=David| title=Theater Guy: Remembering Dakin Williams, Tennessee's 'professional brother' and a colorful fixture at N.O.'s Tenn fest| url=http://blog.nola.com/davidcuthbert/2008/05/theater_guy_remembering_dakin.html| work=[[The Times-Picayune]]| date=May 24, 2008| access-date=September 12, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822014611/http://blog.nola.com/davidcuthbert/2008/05/theater_guy_remembering_dakin.html| archive-date=August 22, 2017| url-status=dead| df=mdy-all}}</ref> (1919<ref>{{cite web| title=Tennessee Williams: Biography| url=http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/22/5820/1490001.cw/index.html| work=Pearson Education| access-date=December 26, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401203421/http://wps.ablongman.com/long_kennedy_lfpd_9/22/5820/1490001.cw/index.html| archive-date=April 1, 2013}}</ref>–2008).<ref>{{cite news| title=Tennessee Williams' brother dead at 89| url=http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/05/21/Tennessee-Williams-brother-dead-at-89/UPI-24131211418362/| work=[[United Press International]]| access-date=December 26, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227010622/http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/05/21/Tennessee-Williams-brother-dead-at-89/UPI-24131211418362/| archive-date=December 27, 2013| url-status=live| df=mdy-all}}</ref> As a young child, Williams nearly died from a case of [[diphtheria]] that left him frail and virtually confined to his house during a year of recuperation.  At least partly due to his illness, he was considered a weak child by his father. Cornelius Williams, a descendant of [[East Tennessee]] pioneers, had a violent temper and was prone to use his fists. He regarded what he thought was his son's effeminacy with disdain. Edwina, locked in an unhappy marriage,<ref>{{cite journal| first=Edwina Dakin| last=Williams| title=Diary Entries, 1931 to 1934| date=2019| journal=Tennessee Williams Annual Review| issue=18| access-date=July 2, 2024| publisher=[[Historic New Orleans Collection]]| pages=18–32 | doi=10.2307/48615455| jstor=48615455| url=https://doi.org/10.2307/48615455}}</ref> focused her attention almost entirely on her frail young son.{{sfn|Bloom|1987|page=15}}  Critics and historians agree that Williams drew from his own dysfunctional family in much of his writing<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and that his desire to break free from his puritan upbringing propelled him towards writing.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tennessee Williams|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0136.xml}}</ref>

When Williams was eight years old, his father was promoted to a job at the home office of the [[International Shoe Company]] in [[St. Louis]]. His mother's continual search for a more appropriate home, as well as his father's heavy drinking and loudly turbulent behavior, caused them to move numerous times around St. Louis. Williams attended [[Soldan International Studies High School|Soldan High School]], a setting he referred to in his play ''The Glass Menagerie''.{{sfn|Roudané|1997|pages=11-13}} Later he studied at [[University City High School (St. Louis)|University City High School]].<ref>Tennessee Williams and John Waters (2006), ''Memoirs'', New Directions Publishing, 274 pages {{ISBN|0-8112-1669-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/williams/gen.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021053816/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/williams/gen.htm|url-status=dead|title=USgennet.org|archive-date=October 21, 2011}}</ref> At age 16, Williams won third prize for an essay published in ''[[Smart Set]]'', titled "Can a Good Wife Be a Good Sport?" A year later, his short story "[[The Vengeance of Nitocris]]" was published (as by "Thomas Lanier Williams") in the August 1928 issue of the magazine ''[[Weird Tales]]''.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Weird Tales Story| first1=Robert| last1=Weinberg| first2=E. Hoffmann| last2=Price| publisher=Wildside Press| date=December 1, 1999| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3AwaMkBUVUC&q=The+Weird+Tales+Story| pages=1–3| isbn=978-1587151019|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These early publications did not lead to any significant recognition or appreciation of Williams's talent, and he would struggle for more than a decade to establish his writing career. Later, in 1928, Williams first visited Europe with his maternal grandfather Dakin.