Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)
Author of Our Town
About the Author
One of the most honored and versatile of modern writers, Thornton Wilder combined a career as a successful novelist with work for the theater that made him one of this century's outstanding dramatists. It was an early short novel, however, that first brought him fame. The Bridge of San Luis Rey show more (1927), a bestseller that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927, is the story of a group of assorted people who happen to be on a bridge in Peru when it collapses. Ingeniously constructed and rich in its philosophical implications about fate and synchronicity, Wilder's book would seem to be the first well-known example of a formula that has become a cliche in popular literature. His attraction to classical themes is manifested in The Woman of Andros (1930), a tragedy about young love in pre-Christian Greece, and The Ides of March (1948), set in the time of Julius Caesar and told in letters and documents covering a long span of years. Heaven's My Destination (1934), is a seriocomic and picaresque story about a young book salesman traveling through the Midwest during the early years of the Great Depression.Theophilus North (1973), Wilder's last novel, disappointed many reviewers, but it provided its author with opportunities to offer some wry observations on the life of the idle rich in Newport during the summer of 1926 and to ponder in the story of his alter ego what might have happened if Wilder had stayed home, so to speak, instead of becoming Thornton Wilder. As a serious writer of fiction, Wilder's main claim rests on The Eighth Day (1967), an intellectual thriller, which the N.Y. Times called "the most substantial fiction of his career." It won the National Book Award for fiction in 1968. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays and Writings on Theater (Library of America) (2007) 198 copies, 2 reviews
The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder (Henry McBride Series in Modernism and Mo) (1996) 43 copies
Drammi brevi 3 copies
Love, and How to Cure It 2 copies
Plays 2 copies
Obras escogidas 2 copies
Thornton Wilder's Our Town (featuring translated passages by Nilo Cruz and Jeff Augustin) (2022) 2 copies
Our Town (HHH Production) — Author — 1 copy
Oom Pio en Camila Perichole 1 copy
Insurgent 1 copy
Kahdeksas päivä 1 copy
Il Ponte si San Luis Rey. 1 copy
Leviathan 1 copy
Fanny Otcott 1 copy
Autumn Thunder 1 copy
Thornton Wilder Stories — Author — 1 copy
Stories and Essays 1 copy
The Warship [short story] — Author — 1 copy
Nascuntur Poetæ 1 copy
Proserpina and the Devil 1 copy
Brother Fire 1 copy
The Penny That Beauty Spent 1 copy
The Message and Jehanne 1 copy
Centaurs 1 copy
Mozart and the Gray Steward 1 copy
The Flight into Egypt 1 copy
Thirteen Plays 1 copy
Shadow of a Doubt 1 copy
Associated Works
This is My Best: American Greatest Living Authors Present and Give Their Reasons Why (1942) — Contributor — 215 copies
An American Album: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Harper's Magazine (2000) — Contributor — 145 copies, 1 review
Playwrights on Playwriting: From Ibsen to Ionesco (1960) — Contributor, some editions — 125 copies, 2 reviews
Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection [14 films 1942-1976] (1942) — Writer — 116 copies, 2 reviews
Gentlemen, Scholars and Scoundrels: A Treasury of the Best of Harper's Magazine from 1850 to the Present (1972) — Contributor — 62 copies
Twenty One-Act Plays: An Anthology for Amateur Performing Groups (1978) — Contributor — 41 copies, 1 review
Out of the Best Books: An Anthology of Literature, Vol. 3: Intelligent Family Living (1967) — Contributor — 34 copies
Amerikanische Kurzgeschichten (American Short Stories) (English and German Edition) (1956) — Contributor — 10 copies
Best-in-Books: Treasure of Pleasant Valley / Best of H.T. Webster / Bridge of San Luis Rey / Think Fast Mr. Moto / Hawaii / H.R.H. / Story of Philip / Answer / Sea Fights and… (1956) — Contributor — 4 copies
Teatro Norteamericano contemporaneo — Contributor — 2 copies
The long Christmas dinner : (Das lange Weihnachtsmahl) : opera in one act ; Libretto by Thornton Wilder (1961) — Author — 2 copies
A Teacher's Guide to Our Town: Common-Core Aligned Teacher Materials and a Sample Chapter (2015) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Bridge of San Luis Rey [1944 film] — Original novel — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Wilder, Thornton
- Legal name
- Wilder, Thornton Niven
- Birthdate
- 1897-04-17
- Date of death
- 1975-12-07
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Princeton University (MA|French|1926)
Yale University (BA|1920)
Oberlin College
American Academy in Rome
Berkeley High School
Creekside Middle School (show all 8)
China Inland Mission Chefoo School
The Thacher School - Occupations
- playwright
novelist
professor
translator
librettist
teacher (show all 12)
screenwriter
short story writer
essayist
corporal (U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps, WWI)
lieutenant colonel (U.S. Army Air Force Intelligence, WWII)
actor - Organizations
- American Academy of Arts and Letters
Modern Language Association of America (honorary member)
Authors Guild
Actors Equity Association
Hispanic Society of America (corresponding member)
Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur (West Germany) (show all 20)
Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (honorary member)
Century Association
Players (honorary member)
Graduate Club
Elizabethan Club
Alpha Delta Phi
United States Army (WWI ∙ WWII)
Harvard University (Charles Eliot Norton professor)
University of Chicago (professor)
Institut de Cooperation Intellectuélle ( [1937])
United States Department of State
International PEN Club Congress ( [1941])
UNESCO Conference of Arts ( [1952])
Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA (teacher) - Awards and honors
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1927)
Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1938, 1943)
Chevalier, Legion of Honor (1951)
National Book Committee's National Medal for Literature (1965)
Edward MacDowell Medal (1960) (show all 21)
National Book Award for fiction (1968)
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1957)
Friedenspreis, Deutschen Buchhandels (1957)
Sonderpreis (1959)
Goethe medal (1959)
Gold Medal for Fiction, American Academy of Arts and Letters (1952)
Brandeis University Creative Arts Award for theater and film (1959-60)
Chicago Literary Hall of Fame (2013)
Medal of the Order of Merit (Peru)
Order of Merit (West Germany)
Century Association Art Medal
Honorary member of Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.)
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star
Alpha Delta Phi - Relationships
- Wilder, Amos Niven (brother)
Wilder, Isabel (sister)
Dakin, Janet Wilder (sister)
Wilder, A. Tappan (nephew)
Wilder, Charlotte (sister) - Short biography
- Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897 in Madison, Wisconsin to Isabella (Niven) Wilder and Amos Parker Wilder. He attended Oberlin College (1915-1917), received an A.B. from Yale University (1920), attended the American Academy in Rome (1920-1921), and received an A.M. from Princeton University (1926). He served in the U.S. Army from 1942-1945, receiving the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star.
Wilder is best known as an author of novels, plays, and screenplays. Among his many published novels and plays, he wrote three Pulitzer Prize winning works: The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1928), Our Town (1938), and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). He also won the Gold Medal for fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1952), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963), the National Book Committee's National Medal for Literature (1965), and the National Book Award (1968).
Wilder was a lecturer in comparative literature at the University of Chicago (1930-1936), a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii (1935), and Charles Eliot Norton Professor of poetry at Harvard University (1950-1951).
Wilder received honorary degrees from New York University, Yale University, Kenyon College, College of Wooster, Harvard University, Northeastern University, Oberlin College, University of New Hampshire, and University of Zurich.
Thornton Wilder died in 1975 - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Places of residence
- Chefoo, China
Ojai, California, USA
Berkeley, California, USA
Douglas, Arizona, USA
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Hamden, Connecticut, USA - Place of death
- Hamden, Connecticut, USA
- Burial location
- Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hamden, Connecticut, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
I read one scrap of information that led me to seek out this book: I knew it was a story of families reckoning with events that closed out the 19th century leading into the 20th century. On this information, I thought this would be a book that captured and reflected on the excitement and dread that I remember feeling at the threshold of the 20th century leading to the 21st (... not Y2K related). In some ways, the book is about this kind of transition, but maybe also about the way that we show more place boundaries around periods of time and assign them significance, coherence, and maybe some retrospective inevitability that we carry forward as an expectation that the moment we live in is part of some inevitability outcome, a story, that we have yet to discover.
There is a scene toward the end of the book when a major character is shown a rug with a design on the top. The rug is then flipped over to show the knotwork holding the threads in place. In a way, the rug is a metaphor for the book which focuses on the knotted threads represented by each of the characters, none of who see the pattern that they contribute to or how their lives carry the imprint of those who have accompanied them in life. They cannot have this perspective because that is the realm of art. Our individual experience is always grounded in the eighth day.
I have not completely wrapped my head around the message of this novel, and I may take a different interpretation than others, but I interpret the eighth day as the everlasting moment that we all live in -- the day that you make do with what you have. The grand narrative of the previous seven days (i.e., of Creation) was just the end of the beginning. show less
There is a scene toward the end of the book when a major character is shown a rug with a design on the top. The rug is then flipped over to show the knotwork holding the threads in place. In a way, the rug is a metaphor for the book which focuses on the knotted threads represented by each of the characters, none of who see the pattern that they contribute to or how their lives carry the imprint of those who have accompanied them in life. They cannot have this perspective because that is the realm of art. Our individual experience is always grounded in the eighth day.
I have not completely wrapped my head around the message of this novel, and I may take a different interpretation than others, but I interpret the eighth day as the everlasting moment that we all live in -- the day that you make do with what you have. The grand narrative of the previous seven days (i.e., of Creation) was just the end of the beginning. show less
"But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves will be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
Tony Blair used these final three sentences of Wilder's novel in a speech at a memorial service for those who show more died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Appropriate enough for the victims but not appropriate that they should be used by Tony Blair (who in my opinion should be appearing at the International Criminal Court accused of war crimes). The word love appears six times in these three sentences underlining the central tenet of Wilder's splendid novel. Weighing in at a mere 104 pages the book looks like a novella, but the writing is so economical it feels like a novel. It can be read in an afternoon, but I would recommend you start in the morning because it begs to be re-read almost immediately and you can do that in the afternoon.
The novel begins with the collapse of the bridge on the royal road between Lima and Cuzco in Peru in 1714. Five people crossing the bridge at the time are plunged to their deaths. The event is witnessed by brother Juniper a monk, who cannot stop himself from asking the question; why were "those" five people on the bridge when it collapsed, was it by divine intervention or was it by chance? He has to know more and undertakes a detailed research of the lives of the five victims to ascertain if there was a reason for them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He thinks:
"If there were any plan in the universe at all, if there were any pattern in a human life, surely it could be discovered mysteriously latent in those five lives so suddenly cut off. Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan"
Brother Juniper's investigations result in a large book and Wilder uses this as source material for his novel, which is divided into five parts. Part 1 briefly tells of the collapse of the bridge witnessed by brother Juniper. Part 2: "The Marquesa de Montemayor" tells of the Marquesa's overwheening love for her daughter Clara, a love that drives Clara away. Pepita the maid to the Marquesa is on the bridge with her mistress when it collapses. Part 3: "Esteban" another of the victims is one of identical twins, who has recently attempted suicide after the death of his brother. Part 5: "Uncle Pio" tells the story of his love for his protegee; the actress Camila Perichole. Uncle Pio and the actresse's daughter are the two remaining victims on the bridge. Part 5:"Perhaps an Intention"sketches in the results of brother Juniper's research, which results in him being burnt as a heretic. This part concludes with the coming together of the loved ones left behind after the tragedy.
It became clear as I read through the novel that the stories were interconnected. The lives of the victims had revolved around the city of Lima and many of them knew or were acquainted with each other. Characters who had minor roles in one of the stories became major players in another. The interlocking of people and places is handled masterfully by the author, so much so that an instant re-reading is called for so that the whole pattern of the novel can be grasped.
Brother Juniper does not find evidence of a master plan, but there are similarities of themes within the lives of the five victims that give plenty of scope for speculation. Wilder says of brother Juniper:
"He thought he saw in the same accident the wicked visited by destruction and the good called early to Heaven. He thought he saw pride and wealth confounded as an object lesson to the world, and he thought he saw humility crowned and rewarded for the edification of the city. But brother Juniper was not satisfied with his reasons."
Like brother Juniper the reader is tempted to search for a meaning for the deaths of the five.
Thornton Wilder was a noted playwright winning the Pulitzer prize for two of his plays and the beauty of this novel is his ability to say so much within such a short space. His prose is both elegant and economical as he picks away at the human condition. Originally published in 1927 this novel still has much to say to the modern reader. A very fine novel and a five star read. show less
Tony Blair used these final three sentences of Wilder's novel in a speech at a memorial service for those who show more died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Appropriate enough for the victims but not appropriate that they should be used by Tony Blair (who in my opinion should be appearing at the International Criminal Court accused of war crimes). The word love appears six times in these three sentences underlining the central tenet of Wilder's splendid novel. Weighing in at a mere 104 pages the book looks like a novella, but the writing is so economical it feels like a novel. It can be read in an afternoon, but I would recommend you start in the morning because it begs to be re-read almost immediately and you can do that in the afternoon.
The novel begins with the collapse of the bridge on the royal road between Lima and Cuzco in Peru in 1714. Five people crossing the bridge at the time are plunged to their deaths. The event is witnessed by brother Juniper a monk, who cannot stop himself from asking the question; why were "those" five people on the bridge when it collapsed, was it by divine intervention or was it by chance? He has to know more and undertakes a detailed research of the lives of the five victims to ascertain if there was a reason for them being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He thinks:
"If there were any plan in the universe at all, if there were any pattern in a human life, surely it could be discovered mysteriously latent in those five lives so suddenly cut off. Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan"
Brother Juniper's investigations result in a large book and Wilder uses this as source material for his novel, which is divided into five parts. Part 1 briefly tells of the collapse of the bridge witnessed by brother Juniper. Part 2: "The Marquesa de Montemayor" tells of the Marquesa's overwheening love for her daughter Clara, a love that drives Clara away. Pepita the maid to the Marquesa is on the bridge with her mistress when it collapses. Part 3: "Esteban" another of the victims is one of identical twins, who has recently attempted suicide after the death of his brother. Part 5: "Uncle Pio" tells the story of his love for his protegee; the actress Camila Perichole. Uncle Pio and the actresse's daughter are the two remaining victims on the bridge. Part 5:"Perhaps an Intention"sketches in the results of brother Juniper's research, which results in him being burnt as a heretic. This part concludes with the coming together of the loved ones left behind after the tragedy.
It became clear as I read through the novel that the stories were interconnected. The lives of the victims had revolved around the city of Lima and many of them knew or were acquainted with each other. Characters who had minor roles in one of the stories became major players in another. The interlocking of people and places is handled masterfully by the author, so much so that an instant re-reading is called for so that the whole pattern of the novel can be grasped.
Brother Juniper does not find evidence of a master plan, but there are similarities of themes within the lives of the five victims that give plenty of scope for speculation. Wilder says of brother Juniper:
"He thought he saw in the same accident the wicked visited by destruction and the good called early to Heaven. He thought he saw pride and wealth confounded as an object lesson to the world, and he thought he saw humility crowned and rewarded for the edification of the city. But brother Juniper was not satisfied with his reasons."
Like brother Juniper the reader is tempted to search for a meaning for the deaths of the five.
Thornton Wilder was a noted playwright winning the Pulitzer prize for two of his plays and the beauty of this novel is his ability to say so much within such a short space. His prose is both elegant and economical as he picks away at the human condition. Originally published in 1927 this novel still has much to say to the modern reader. A very fine novel and a five star read. show less
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, from its memorable opening line to its closing memorable line, and all its vividness in between. It was enjoyable to be not only so skillfully entertained but to be asked, without layers of subterfuge, the deepest philosophical question a person will ever ask at some point in their life. And I love the answer that I felt Wilder lead me to find within.
(Spoilers below.)
It's interesting that the church (who is supposed to lead us to those answers) finds Brother show more Juniper's work heretical. Here it is, the basic theological question, "Do we matter to God?" and the good monk is convinced the answer is Yes. But even after years of probing all the smallest pieces of evidence in the lives of the five, he feels he has never gained a firm understanding of the mind of God. The church judges, corrupt and barely tolerant of the question, certainly couldn't stand an unfinished answer and so condemns him in notorious Spanish Inquisition fashion. Consumed by his fiery fate, the monk never doubts God, only himself. He is the epitome of faith, believing while having no answers.
It is an interesting contrast, too, that while the pious monk's work is burned (and the other copy forgotten on a dusty shelf) the Marquesa's letters go on to great fame. The words of the drunk, the awkward, the laughable, the sincere-but-misguided Marquesa lives and inspires for centuries, an example of the fickle unpredictability of what matters and what doesn't in mere human annals.
Ultimately it's the nun, Madre Maria, who is affected in the most profound way by the collapse of the bridge and it's her thoughts on life's divine meaning that ends the novel so beautifully. She comes to believe that no, her life's work doesn't matter and that not even being remembered fondly by loved ones matters because those that remember will die soon, too. She concludes it is the love itself that matters to God. It is our love -- love by human beings destined to be unremembered and often unrewarded -- that matters by returning to "the love that made them." It's not God's love for us, or our love for God, but our love for one another is the real divine exchange, that which has its source from and that which returns to God. It is the only meaning, the only bridge between man and God. show less
(Spoilers below.)
It's interesting that the church (who is supposed to lead us to those answers) finds Brother show more Juniper's work heretical. Here it is, the basic theological question, "Do we matter to God?" and the good monk is convinced the answer is Yes. But even after years of probing all the smallest pieces of evidence in the lives of the five, he feels he has never gained a firm understanding of the mind of God. The church judges, corrupt and barely tolerant of the question, certainly couldn't stand an unfinished answer and so condemns him in notorious Spanish Inquisition fashion. Consumed by his fiery fate, the monk never doubts God, only himself. He is the epitome of faith, believing while having no answers.
It is an interesting contrast, too, that while the pious monk's work is burned (and the other copy forgotten on a dusty shelf) the Marquesa's letters go on to great fame. The words of the drunk, the awkward, the laughable, the sincere-but-misguided Marquesa lives and inspires for centuries, an example of the fickle unpredictability of what matters and what doesn't in mere human annals.
Ultimately it's the nun, Madre Maria, who is affected in the most profound way by the collapse of the bridge and it's her thoughts on life's divine meaning that ends the novel so beautifully. She comes to believe that no, her life's work doesn't matter and that not even being remembered fondly by loved ones matters because those that remember will die soon, too. She concludes it is the love itself that matters to God. It is our love -- love by human beings destined to be unremembered and often unrewarded -- that matters by returning to "the love that made them." It's not God's love for us, or our love for God, but our love for one another is the real divine exchange, that which has its source from and that which returns to God. It is the only meaning, the only bridge between man and God. show less
"Some say that we shall never know, and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a summer day, and some say, on the contrary, that the very sparrows do not lose a feather that has not been brushed away by the finger of God."
You might think a book so focused on God and faith would fail to have the desired effect on an atheist like me. But, actually, I think the religious factor of this novel is just a small part of something which affects all of us: our need to question show more why things happen. When tragedy falls upon our loved ones, or perhaps not even that, perhaps a news story captures our attention of young children involved in a fatal accident, completely in the wrong place at the wrong time - when life presents us with such situations as these, it seems it is a common element of human nature to ask that question which has plagued philosophers, priests, historians and scientists for millennia. Why.
This book begins with the collapse of the San Luis Rey bridge in Peru. Brother Juniper witnesses the disaster and watches as five people plummet to their deaths in the gorge below. He finds himself wondering why those people at that exact point were chosen to die, what it was about their lives that shaped such a destiny for them. We are taken on an emotional journey into the lives of the deceased, exploring questions about life, death, religion, faith and chance. Did these five people die because of some grave sin that doomed their souls? Or was it something far more complicated than that?
"Now he discovered that secret from which one never quite recovers, that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other. There may be two equally good, equally gifted, equally beautiful, but there may never be two that love one another equally well."
This beautifully written novel captures numerous emotions in a very small amount of pages and also gives the reader an interesting view of the ruling classes in Spanish South America at this time (18th century). The book can be viewed as several gradually entwining short stories which feature very different lives that end in the same unfortunate way. It is quite a painful read, especially when looking at the relationship between Dona Maria and her daughter, the former longing for the latter's love but unsure how to obtain it. Knowing the outcome of each tale adds a looming cloud of despair to the stories and makes the characters' situations that much more tragic.
What many see as this book's major weakness and I found to be its greatest strength was the lack of answers to the questions first pondered by Brother Juniper when he witnessed the collapse of the bridge. Wilder purposely leaves the ending open for interpretation as to whether these people were the victims of chance or deliberately targeted as part of God's greater plan. The only certainty is that, in one way or another, love brought each of those people to that bridge at that exact point. And I believe the ambiguity makes it all the more powerful.
"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning." show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 111
- Also by
- 53
- Members
- 18,506
- Popularity
- #1,185
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 312
- ISBNs
- 419
- Languages
- 15
- Favorited
- 25
