Thornton Wilder
A Brief Biographical sketch
Thornton Wilder
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born 1897 in Madison, Wisconsin
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died 1975 in Hamden, Connecticut
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4 siblings
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educated parents: read to him
Teaching Career
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Taught high school French
Taught poetry at Harvard
Lectured on literature
Considered himself
a teacher 1st, a writer 2nd
His Writing
(bibliography)
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Has written:
– Fiction
– Broadway
musicals
– Screenplays
– Dramas
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Pulitzer Prizes for:
The Bridge Of San
Luis Rey (1927).
Our Town (1938).
The Skin Of Our
Teeth (1943)
Our Town:
setting
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Based on Peterborough, New
Hampshire, where Wilder spent his
summers.
Characters: Gibbs and Webb families
Action focuses on George & Emily’s
childhood, courtship, marriage, and
death.
Themes
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Universals in everyday life
Brevity of life
Living life to the fullest
Companionship
Superficiality of the theater
Symbols
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Natural cycles
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Stages of life
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Time
Morning
Narrator
The stage manager:
 transcends time
 breaks the 4th wall: comments on the
action or informs the audience about a
character’s background.
Why Popular
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One of the most frequently staged
American plays
Universality
Easy to produce:
No scenery except for tables, chairs,
ladders, and a few other objects.