Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American novelist and playwright.

Life

Born Thornton Niven Wilder in Madison,Wisconsin, he was the son of a U.S. diplomat, spending part of his childhood in China. His older brother, Amos, and three younger sisters, Charlotte, Isabel and Janet, were also accomplished writers. He also had a twin brother who died at birth. He began writing plays while at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, where he did not fit in and was teased by classmates as over-intellectual. According to a classmate, “We left him alone, just left him alone. And he would retire to the library, his hideaway, learning to distance himself from humiliation and indifference.?

Related Topics:
Madison,Wisconsin - China - Amos - Charlotte - Isabel - Janet - The Thacher School - Ojai, California - Intellectual

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After serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War I, he attended Oberlin College before earning his B.A. at Yale University in 1920. Six years later, his first novel The Cabala was published. In 1927, The Bridge of San Luis Rey brought him commercial success and his first Pulitzer Prize in 1928. From 1930 to 1937 he taught at the University of Chicago. World War II saw him rise to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and receive several awards. He went on to be a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii and to teach poetry at Harvard. Though he considered himself a teacher first and a writer second, he continued to write all his life, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. He died in his sleep, December 7, 1975 in Hamden, Connecticut, where he had been living with his sister Isabel for many years.

Related Topics:
U.S. Coast Guard - World War I - Oberlin College - Yale University - 1920 - The Cabala - The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Pulitzer Prize - 1928 - 1930 - 1937 - University of Chicago - World War II - Lieutenant Colonel - Air Force - University of Hawaii - Harvard - Presidential Medal of Freedom - 1963 - December 7 - 1975 - Hamden, Connecticut

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Wilder was good friends with a large number of writers including Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Montgomery Clift and Gertrude Stein. Wilder never married. Although he never discussed his homosexuality publicly or in his writings, his close friend Samuel M. Steward is considered to have been his lover.

Related Topics:
Ernest Hemingway - Willa Cather - Montgomery Clift - Gertrude Stein - Homosexuality - Samuel M. Steward

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