Thornton Wilder

Christopher Wheatley

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 17 Apr 1897
Died 7 Dec 1975
Activity 1920-1973

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Film/TV Script-writer/ Screenwriter
Man/ Woman of Letters
Novelist
Playwright / Dramatist
Scholar
Story-writer
Teacher/ Professor
Theatre Producer

Resources

Wilder's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Thornton Niven Wilder is the only American writer to receive Pulitzer Prizes for both Drama (

Our Town

in 1938 and

The Skin of Our Teeth

in 1943) and Fiction (

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

in 1928). He also received the National Book Award for the novel

The Eighth Day

in 1968. Widely popular both in the United States and Europe, his work nevertheless inspired a number of critical controversies. A gifted prose stylist, an innovative and influential playwright, and a fiction writer who experimented with a number of forms, he is sometimes accused of creating a sentimental picture of America. Unarguably,

Our Town

is one of the most significant works of American literature in the twentieth century and almost certainly the most frequently produced American play.

Wilder’s family came from New

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2432 words

Citation: Wheatley, Christopher. "Thornton Wilder". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 March 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4721, accessed 27 November 2024.]

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