| The Autumn Garden | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Lillian Hellman |
| Date premiered | March 7, 1951 |
| Place premiered | Coronet Theatre New York City |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
The Autumn Garden is a 1951 play by Lillian Hellman. The play is set in September, 1949 in a summer home in a resort on the Gulf of Mexico, about 100 miles from New Orleans.[1] The play is a study of the defeats, disappointments and diminished expectations of people reaching middle age.[2] For inspiration, Hellman drew on her memories of her time in her aunts' boardinghouse.[3] Dashiell Hammett, who had been Hellman's lover for 20 years, helped her write the play and received 15 percent of the royalties.[4][5] Of all Hellman's plays it was her favorite.[2]
- ^ Griffin, Alice; Geraldine Thorsten (1999). Understanding Lillian Hellman. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 76–88. ISBN 978-1-57003-302-5.
- ^ a b Brantley, Ben (22 August 2007). "What They Left Undone on Summer Vacation". The New York Times.
- ^ McDonald, Robert L.; Linda Rohrer Paige (2002). Southern Women Playwrights: New Essays in Literary History and Criticism. University of Alabama Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8173-1079-0.
- ^ Gale, Robert L. (2000). A Dashiell Hammett Companion. Greenwood. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-313-31095-9.
- ^ Tuska, Jon (1978). The Detective in Hollywood. Doubleday. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-385-12093-7.