World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Wright Morris

ライト・マリオン・モリス

Wright Marion Morris

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1910-01-06 （Central City, Nebraska, U.S.）
Died
1998-04-25 （Mill Valley, California, U.S.） age 88
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Central City, Nebraska → Omaha, Nebraska → Chicago, Illinois → California, U.S. → Philadelphia, Pennsylvania → Mexico → Mill Valley, California

Career

Occupations
Writer, Photographer, Essayist
Active Years
1930-1998
Influenced By
John O'Hara, Thornton Wilder, Muriel Spark (correspondent)

Education

Pacific Union College
Country: United States
Attended; details of degree unclear
Pomona College
Degree: BA
Period: 〜1933
Year of Graduation: 1933
Country: United States
Received Bachelor of Arts

Awards

National Book Award
1956
Work: The Field of Vision
Category: Fiction (hardcover)
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
National Book Award
1981
Work: Plains Song
Category: Fiction (hardcover)
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
1942
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: recipient
Guggenheim Fellowship
1946
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: recipient
Guggenheim Fellowship
1954
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: recipient
Mari Sandoz Award
1975
Organization: Nebraska library community
Result: recipient
Western Literature Association Distinguished Achievement Award
1979
Organization: Western Literature Association
Result: recipient
Robert Kirsch Award (Los Angeles Times Book Prize)
1981
Category: lifetime achievement
Organization: Los Angeles Times
Result: recipient
Common Wealth Award
1982
Organization: Selected by MLA members
Result: recipient
Whiting Award
1985
Organization: Whiting Foundation
Result: recipient
National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship
1986
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Field of Vision

1956 Novel

A novel that combines photographic images and narrative techniques to portray people and artifacts of the American Midwest, experimenting with form.

memoryMidwestern landscaperelationships between people and objects

Plains Song

1980 Novel

One of Morris's late major works, portraying life on the Great Plains and the stories embedded in its landscape.

Great Plainsmemory and lossregional identity

My Uncle Dudley

1942 Novel

An early novel based on youthful travel experiences, depicting growing up and family relationships.

coming of agefamilytravel

Bibliography

  • My Uncle Dudley (1942)
  • The Man Who Was There (1945)
  • The World in the Attic (1949)
  • Man and Boy (1951)
  • The Works of Love (1952)
  • The Deep Sleep (1953)
  • The Huge Season (1954)
  • The Field of Vision (1956)
  • Love Among the Cannibals (1957)
  • Ceremony in Lone Tree (1960)
  • What a Way to Go (1962)
  • Cause for Wonder (1963)
  • One Day (1965)
  • In Orbit (1967)
  • Fire Sermon (1971)
  • War Games (1972)
  • A Life (1973)
  • The Fork River Space Project (1977)
  • Plains Song (1980)
  • Will's Boy (1981)
  • Solo (1983)
  • A Cloak of Light (1985)
  • Collected Stories 1948-1986 (1986)
  • Photographs and Words (1982)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
experimental narrative combining photographic images and proserestrained, observational prosedetailed depiction of regional (Great Plains) life
Recurring Motifs
memory and lossrelationships between objects (artifacts) and peopleGreat Plains landscapeloneliness

Health

  • Esophageal cancer
    1998（診断・没年）
    Contracted in late life and led to his death in 1998; ended his creative activity.

Legacy

Known for portraying people and artifacts of the Great Plains in words and photographs and for experimenting with narrative form. Considered an important figure in American Midwestern literature, awarded multiple National Book Awards and other honors.

Museums

  • Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona (Wright Morris photographic archive) Tucson, Arizona, United States
  • Wright Morris Boyhood House Central City, Nebraska

Academic Societies

  • Western Literature Association (associated)

Archives

  • Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona (holds full archive of photographs)
  • University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries (Wright Morris papers)
  • Lincoln City Libraries (correspondence and taped interviews)
  • The Bancroft Library (Wright Morris papers guide)

Quotes

  • "Gertrude was closer to my age than to my father's."
    Source: Memoir 'Will's Boy' (1981)

Trivia

  • His boyhood home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Wright Morris Boyhood House).
  • Served as a pallbearer at John O'Hara's funeral.
  • Maintained a regular correspondence with Scottish author Muriel Spark from 1962 until his death.
  • Married Mary Ellen Finfrock in 1934 (divorced 1959); later married Josephine Mary Kantor.