Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder, in full Thornton
Niven Wilder (b. April 17, 1897,
Madison, Wis., U.S.—d. Dec. 7, 1975,
Hamden, Conn.), American writer, whose
innovative novels and plays reflect his
views of the universal truths in human
nature. He is probably best known for
his plays.
After graduating from Yale University
in 1920, Wilder studied archaeology in
Rome. From 1930 to 1937 he taught
dramatic literature and the classics at
the University of Chicago.
His first novel, The Cabala (1926),
set in 20th-century Rome, is essentially
a fantasy about the death of the pagan
gods. His most popular novel, The Bridge
of San Luis Rey (1927; Pulitzer Prize),
which was adapted for film and
television, examines the lives of five
people who died in the collapse of a
bridge in 18th-century Peru. The Woman
of Andros (1930) is an interpretation of
Terence’s Andria. Accused of being a
“Greek” rather than an American writer,
Wilder in Heaven’s My Destination (1934)
wrote about a quixotically good hero in
a contemporary setting. His later novels
are The Ides of March (1948), The Eighth
Day (1967), and Theophilus North (1973).
Wilder’s plays engage the audience in
make-believe by having the actors
address the spectators directly and by
discarding props and scenery. The Stage
Manager in Our Town (1938) talks to the
audience, as do the characters in the
farcical The Matchmaker (1954). Wilder
won a Pulitzer Prize for Our Town,
becoming the only person to receive the
award in both the fiction and drama
categories. The Matchmaker was made into
a film in 1958 and adapted in 1964 into
the immensely successful musical Hello,
Dolly!, which was also made into a film.
Wilder’s other plays include The Skin
of Our Teeth (1942; Pulitzer Prize),
which employs deliberate anachronisms
and the use of the same characters in
various geological and historical
periods to show that human experience is
much the same whatever the time or
place. Posthumous publications include
The Journals of Thornton Wilder,
1939–1961, edited by Donald Gallup, and
Wilder’s correspondence with Gertrude
Stein, The Letters of Gertrude Stein and
Thornton Wilder (1996), edited by Edward
Burns and Ulla E. Dydo.
