World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Thornton Niven Wilder

ソーントン・ニーヴェン・ワイルダー

Thornton Niven Wilder

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1897-04-17 （Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.）
Died
1975-12-07 （Hamden, Connecticut, U.S.） age 78
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Madison, Wisconsin (birth) → Hong Kong and Shanghai (childhood, father's diplomatic posting) → Ojai, California (attended The Thacher School) → Rome, Italy (residency at The American Academy in Rome) → Hamden, Connecticut (longtime home) → Douglas, Arizona (residence while writing)

Career

Occupations
playwright, novelist, translator, teacher/professor
Active Years
1920-1975
Affiliations
Lawrenceville School (teacher), University of Chicago (faculty), Harvard University (visiting professor, Charles Eliot Norton Lectures), Alpha Delta Phi (literary society), PEN International (Wartime International Presidential Committee)
Memberships
PEN International (Wartime Committee), Alpha Delta Phi
Influenced By
Dante Alighieri, Gertrude Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, James Joyce
Influenced
Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams

Education

Berkeley High School
Period: 〜1915
Year of Graduation: 1915
Country: United States
High school graduation
Oberlin College (attended)
Period: 1915–1916 (在籍)
Country: United States
Attended prior to transferring to Yale
Yale University
Humanities
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Period: 1917–1920
Year of Graduation: 1920
Country: United States
Member of Alpha Delta Phi (literary society)
The American Academy in Rome
Archaeology and Italian studies (residency)
Period: 1920–1921
Country: Italy
Residency and study supported by the Academy
Princeton University
French literature
Degree: Master of Arts
Period: 1924–1926
Year of Graduation: 1926
Country: United States
Earned M.A. in French literature

Awards

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel
1928
Work: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Category: 小説
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1938
Work: Our Town
Category: 演劇
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
1943
Work: The Skin of Our Teeth
Category: 演劇
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
1957
Organization: German Book Trade
Result: 受賞
Edward MacDowell Medal
1960
Organization: The MacDowell Colony
Result: 受賞
Presidential Medal of Freedom
1963
Organization: U.S. Government
Result: 受賞
National Book Award for Fiction
1968
Work: The Eighth Day
Category: 小説
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

1927 Novel (philosophical fiction) 176 pages

Tells the intersecting stories of people killed when a bridge in Peru collapses, exploring why misfortune befalls seemingly innocent individuals.

fate and chancelove and memorymeaning of death
Adaptations
  • [film] The Bridge of San Luis Rey / Mary McGuckian (2004)
  • [film] The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944)
Translations
  • The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Our Town

1938 Play (drama) 64 pages

A three-act play set in the fictional Grover's Corners that depicts ordinary life to illuminate universal human experiences, notable for its Stage Manager narrator and minimalist staging.

value of everyday lifelife and deathcommunity
Adaptations
  • [film] Our Town / Sam Wood (1940)
Translations
  • Our Town

The Skin of Our Teeth

1942 Play (allegorical drama) 136 pages

An allegorical three-act play centering on the Antrobus family that dramatizes cyclical history, civilization's crises, and renewal.

civilization and renewalcyclical historyallegory
Translations
  • The Skin of Our Teeth

The Eighth Day

1967 Novel 400 pages

A late-career novel that addresses existence, fate, and philosophical and religious questions through the lives of small-town characters. Winner of the 1968 National Book Award.

religion and faithcommunity and individualquestions of existence
Translations
  • The Eighth Day

Ides of March

1948 Historical novel 256 pages

A reconstruction of the events and characters leading to the assassination of Julius Caesar, exploring politics and human nature in ancient Rome.

power and betrayalreinterpretation of history
Translations
  • Ides of March

Theophilus North

1973 Novel 320 pages

A novel following a young protagonist who meets various people and reflects on life and morality. Published in 1973 and later adapted as the film Mr. North.

coming of age and relationshipsmoral reflection
Adaptations
  • [film] Mr. North / Danny Huston (1988)
Translations
  • Theophilus North

Bibliography

  • The Cabala (1926)
  • The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927)
  • The Woman of Andros (1930)
  • Heaven's My Destination (1935)
  • Our Town (1938)
  • The Skin of Our Teeth (1942)
  • Ides of March (1948)
  • The Eighth Day (1967)
  • Theophilus North (1973)

Adaptations

  • Our Town — film adaptation (1940)
  • The Bridge of San Luis Rey — film adaptations (1944, 2004, etc.)
  • Theophilus North — adapted as Mr. North (1988)

Translations by Author

  • André Obey (translations of plays)
  • Jean-Paul Sartre (play translations)

Translations of Works

  • The Bridge of San Luis Rey — translated into multiple languages
  • Our Town — editions in various languages
  • The Eighth Day — translations including Japanese

Style & Themes

Literary Style
concise, often allegorical narrationfusion of dramatic scene and narratorminimalist stagecraft
Recurring Motifs
the value and universality of everyday lifetime and mortalitycommunity and family

Health

  • heart failure (cause of death)
    1975
    Died of heart failure at home on December 7, 1975
  • writer's block
    制作時期不特定（例：『Our Town』執筆時の行き詰まり）
    Affected writing at times but was eventually overcome to complete works

Legacy

Wilder was a major 20th-century American playwright and novelist, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner whose works—particularly Our Town—have had enduring influence in literature and theater and remain widely staged.

Academic Societies

  • The Thornton Wilder Society (scholarly society)

Archives

  • Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Thornton Wilder Papers)
  • Harry Ransom Center (Thornton Wilder Collection)
  • University of Chicago Special Collections (materials related to Thornton Wilder)

In Popular Culture

  • Our Town has become a staple of school and community theater repertoire
  • His reworking The Matchmaker served as the basis for the musical Hello, Dolly!, impacting popular culture

Quotes

  • But soon we will die, and all memories of those five will have left earth... The only survival, the only meaning is love.
    Source: The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927)
  • Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?
    Source: Our Town (1938)

Trivia

  • Won three Pulitzer Prizes (one for a novel, two for drama)
  • Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963
  • Spent part of his childhood in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai)
  • Served in U.S. Army Air Forces intelligence in WWII, rose to lieutenant colonel
  • Proficient in four languages and translated plays