Stanley Clisby Arthur's Old New Orleans (Gretna, La.: Pelican, 1990) offers a detailed look into the backdrop of Williams' play and provides a perspective on the American South during the early twentieth century.

Williams' earlier play, The Glass Menagerie (1944), features Amanda Wingfield, a Southern belle who embodies the playwright's complex emotions about his mother's pretensions, possessiveness, and lack of sensitivity. Amanda shares certain traits with Blanche Du Bois.

The memoir of Williams' mother, Remember Me to Tom (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1964), sheds light on the mother-son relationship. This memoir was ghost-written by Lucy Freeman.

Margaret Mitchell's 1936 bestseller, Gone With the Wind, spans from the antebellum era to the aftermath of the Civil War in the American South. The novel portrays the majestic mansions of Southern planters, the hardships of black slaves, and the untouched elegance of Southern belles. This book, along with its more famous film adaptation starring Vivien Leigh, was among the last popular works to romanticize the South, much like Streetcar.