Tennessee Williams and Cat on a Hot Tin RoofTennessee Williams has been described as the most literary of the major playwrights and one of America's finest playwrights (Bloom, p.2) . He has been praised by critics for his compassionate understanding of the spiritually oppressed (Gale Databases, p. 8). One of his most famous works, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, has been described as his most powerful and deals with the then taboo topic of homosexuality (Becker, p. 2). Tennessee Williams, whose real name is Thomas Lanier Williams, was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus Mississippi. His father was a shoe peddler and his mother was the daughter of an Episcopal priest. He had an older sister, Rose, and a younger brother, Walter Dakin. In 1918 the family moved to St. Louis. Tennessee had a very difficult childhood in St. Louis and was the butt of his classmates' jokes due to his small size and lack of athletic ability (Encyclopedia of World Drama, p. 410). In 1929, he attended the University of Missouri, and won awards for writing. He failed ROTC due to leg weakness caused by childhood diphtheria. His father removed him from college shortly before his senior year for financial reasons and disappointment in his son. His father found him a job in an International Shoe Company warehouse. Tennessee worked during the day and wrote at night. He suffered a nervous collapse and spent a month in hospital. He went to his grandparents' house in Memphis, Tennessee, to recover. In 1935 he attended Washington University with the help of his grandparents. There he wrote plays for the Mummers Theater Group. In 1937 he attended the University of Iowa, studied with Professor E. C. Mabie, and received his bachelor's degree. After graduation, he went to New Orleans after learning of his sister's lobotomy (Encyclopedia of World Drama, p. 410). In 1939, Story Magazine published his play A Field of Blue Children. That year Tennessee also compiled four one-act plays under the title American Blues that included Candles in the Sun, The Fugitive King, Spring Storm, and Not About Nightingales. He entered them into the Group Theater's American drama competition and won a $100 prize which piqued the interest of New York agent Audrey Wood. He got a $1000 grant for him to finish Battle of Angels, which was produced in 1940.