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year and promises to divorce him afterward. The
General agrees, and confesses to Edward Crossman that he was almost relieved to have an excuse to not go through with the divorce. Constance finally confesses to Edward her feelings for him, and she asks him to marry her. He declines, explaining that he is just a drunk, who gets drunker every year. He confesses that coming to her boarding house every year is a vain attempt to sustain the illusion of a dignified life that he does not actually live.
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is crumbling. Sophie does not love
Frederick, but she believes marrying him will be an acceptable way to end her dead-end existence in the boarding house. Constance is horrified to realize that Sophie will not marry for love, and insists, despite all the evidence surrounding her to the contrary, that marriages must be based on love.
88:. 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. The play is a study of the defeats, disappointments and diminished expectations of people reaching middle age. For inspiration, Hellman drew on her memories of her time in her aunts' boardinghouse.
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As Nina is leaving, Nicholas talks his way back into her heart, and she is happy to continue their destructive cycle by reuniting. Before she leaves, Nina is cornered by Sophie who demands $ 5,000 for the shame that
Nicholas has caused her. Revealing how sophisticated she really is, she consoles Nina
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Frederick is engaged to be married to Sophie
Tuckerman, who was adopted by Constance and brought to America from France when she was 13. She works with Leon to help Constance run the boarding house. Constance is overwrought with anxiety over the impending arrival of Nina and Nicholas Denery, who will
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It does not take long for the fissures in all of the characters' facades to show themselves. The Griggs are elegantly adversarial towards one another. Carrie is desperate to impose her will on her son. Nicholas, contrary to
Constance's continued delusion, is a failed artist, and his marriage to Nina
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Rose Griggs presents a letter from her doctor to the
General. He has asked her for a divorce, but she reveals that she has heart trouble that could kill her. The doctor's note explains that with the right treatment, she could be healthy again in a year. She begs the General to stay with her for the
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As the week progresses, the characters grow more disillusioned with themselves and each other. Nicholas gets frightfully drunk one night and breaks up with Nina again. Later, he propositions Sophie, who allows him to kiss her. He passes out in her bed. The next morning, the house is scandalized by
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The events of the play unfold over the course of one week at
Constance Tuckerman's boarding house on the Gulf Coast. A few of her regular guests are enjoying post-dinner cocktails. Rose Griggs is trying to get her husband, General Benjamin Griggs, to admire her dress, which she has put on for a
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to not think of it as blackmail, but so much as a premium to be paid for the privilege of continuing to play at happiness with
Nicholas a little while longer. Nina agrees to pay her the money. Sophie decides that she will use it to return to France.
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party. Young
Frederick Ellis and his grandmother Mrs. Mary Ellis are reading the galleys for a novel that Frederick is about to publish. His mother Carrie Ellis and Edward ("Ned") Crossman are the other guests in the lounge, as the play opens.
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255:. Individual critics had mixed feelings about the play, finding the characters dislikable and the conclusion unsatisfying but still considering it her best work.
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had both praise and criticism, calling it "scrupulous" and the characterization, "written...of knowledge and integrity", but the play "boneless and torpid.".
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his presence in her bed, knowing that the neighbors can see through the window, and Sophie will be the talk of the town.
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spend the weekend at her house. Nicholas was the love of her life, before he left to become an artist in New York.
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was not satisfied with the play but nevertheless voted for it to win the New York Drama
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production that opened on March 7, 1951, at the Coronet Theatre (now the
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Southern Women Playwrights: New Essays in Literary History and Criticism
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453:Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes and Scoundrels
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366:McDonald, Robert L.; Linda Rohrer Paige (2002).
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566:Southern United States in fiction
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490:. Simon & Schuster. p.
347:Brantley, Ben (22 August 2007).
531:The Autumn Garden
520:The Autumn Garden
571:Plays set in the United States
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316:Understanding Lillian Hellman
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145:..... General Benjamin Griggs
393:A Dashiell Hammett Companion
231:, and costume design was by
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125:Principal opening night cast
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450:Martinson, Deborah (2005).
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536:Internet Broadway Database
525:Internet Broadway Database
419:The Detective in Hollywood
395:. Greenwood. p. 112.
181:..... Constance Tuckerman
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561:Plays by Lillian Hellman
484:Wright, William (2000).
456:. Counterpoint. p.
391:Gale, Robert L. (2000).
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274:Awards and nominations
221:Eugene O'Neill Theatre
169:..... Sophie Tuckerman
422:. Doubleday. p.
187:..... Nicholas Denery
157:..... Frederick Ellis
151:..... Edward Crossman
139:..... Mrs. Mary Ellis
143:Colin Keith-Johnston
416:Tuska, Jon (1978).
233:Anna Hill Johnstone
353:The New York Times
239:Critical reception
209:Kermit Bloomgarden
163:..... Carrie Ellis
501:978-0-7432-1073-7
467:978-1-58243-315-8
433:978-0-385-12093-7
402:978-0-313-31095-9
377:978-0-8173-1079-0
330:978-1-57003-302-5
279:The Autumn Garden
249:The Autumn Garden
193:..... Nina Denery
173:Maxwell Glanville
133:..... Rose Griggs
131:Florence Eldridge
77:The Autumn Garden
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19:The Autumn Garden
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