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Wilder, Thornton 1897–1975

Wilder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright and novelist, always pondered—and affirmed—the purpose of human life. Considered significantly experimental at one time, Our Town and Skin of Our Teeth are now standard repertory works. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 13-16, rev. ed.; obituary, Vols. 53-56.)

[Wilder's] portrayal of good and evil action, friendship, tyranny, justice, and community make his writings a proper setting for an examination of the perennial questions of political philosophy. Throughout his novels and plays, Wilder, the dramatist and poet, is concerned with the variety and forms of human action. School teachers, tourists, mining engineers, preachers, housewifes, and even young children are transformed into models of virtue and vice in the hands of the poet. Courage, justice, avarice, and prudence are all illuminated as Wilder draws his stories. Indeed, Wilder...

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1. Wilder, Thornton 1897–1975
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1. Thornton Wilder