Tennessee Williams: We Do Not Give Up

Interview with Tennessee Williams

Conducted by James Grissom

By Telephone

November, 1982

We can never be resigned. I think the feeling of resignation, of being unable to care, is the end stage of depression, perhaps of shock. I'm not sure, even though I've coursed through every emotional stage there is. But resignation is unacceptable. Resignation is that calm people are alleged to feel right before they freeze to death or drown. It is a giving up, and the act of giving up is decidedly anti-human. We do not give up. We can wail and we can joke and we can cry, but we have to do something. When the world appears to be most insane, we can't go inside and hide and let the jackals eat up the orchards. We have to respond as humans, which is to say with kindness and wit and caring.

We do not--ever--give up. So pull yourself together and get back to work.

©  2016   James Grissom