Thornton Wilder

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

Works

Wilder authored numerous novels, plays, and a variety of shorter works including essays, one act plays, and scholarly articles. He also translated and wrote the libretti to two operas. Alfred Hitchcock, whom he admired, asked him to write the screenplay to his thriller, Shadow of a Doubt.

Related Topics:
One act play - Libretti - Opera - Alfred Hitchcock - Shadow of a Doubt

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Wilder was the author of Our Town, a popular play (and later film) set in fictional Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. Based on Gertrude Stein's The Making of Americans, many elements of Stein's deconstructive style can be found throughout the work. Our Town employs a choric narrator called the "Stage Manager" and a minimalist set to underscore the universality of human experience. (Wilder himself would play the Stage Manager on Broadway for two weeks and later in summer stock productions.) The play won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize. Wilder suffered from severe writer's block while writing the final act.

Related Topics:
Our Town - New Hampshire - Stage Manager - Minimalist - Broadway - 1938 - Pulitzer Prize - Writer's block

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His play The Skin of Our Teeth opened in New York on November 18, 1942 with Fredric March and Tallulah Bankhead in the lead roles. Again, the themes are familiar--war, pestilence, economic depression, fire. Ignoring the limits of time and space, just four characters and three acts are used to review the history of mankind.

Related Topics:
The Skin of Our Teeth - 1942 - Fredric March - Tallulah Bankhead

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The Matchmaker, a farcical play based on Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy's Einen Jux will er sich machen (1842), was adapted into the musical Hello, Dolly! by Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman.

Related Topics:
The Matchmaker - Farcical - Austria - Johann Nestroy - Einen Jux will er sich machen - 1842 - Hello, Dolly! - Michael Stewart - Jerry Herman

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His last novel, Theophilus North, was published in 1973.

Related Topics:
Theophilus North - 1973

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