Wilder, Thornton (Vol. 10) - Introduction

Wilder, Thornton 1897–1975

Wilder was an American playwright, novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. He seeks to explore the universal in the particular in his writing: his stereotypical characters and conventional themes reflect his belief that realism in the theater cannot adequately portray the human condition. The form and content of his novels also reveal his rejection of contemporary modes of literary expression. His fiction and his drama have thus been the subject of critical controversy for their lack of contemporary theme or exposition. Wilder was three times the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize: for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Ray in 1927, and for his plays Our Town in 1938 and The Skin of Our Teeth in 1943. (See also CLC, Vols. 1, 5, 6, and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 13-16, rev. ed.; obituary, Vols. 61-64.)