Books: Of Sin and Grace

MEMOIRS by TENNESSEE WILLIAMS 264 pages. Doubleday. $8.95.

Tennessee Williams stands in an apostolic succession from Aeschylus in that slender company of men who, by vocation, are destined to write high drama. Within his own life span, Williams' characters, scenes and lines have become part of the civilized world's fabric. But Williams is a lyric playwright. and these prose memoirs, no matter how candid, cannot quite resolve the mystery of his artistic gifts Since he writes as naturally as birds fly (one of his nicknames is "Bird"), the book is immensely readable...

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