Theophilus North

Theophilus North
Author: Matthew Burnett
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2004
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780573630415

It is the spring of 1926. Thirty year old Theophilus North quits his teaching post in New Jersey and embarks on a quest for fun, adventure and his place in the world. His used car breaks down in Newport, Rhode Island, and he is stranded in this city of renowned wealth. Theophilus becomes involved in the lives and troubles of Newport's residents and is changed by the lessons he learns through them. Effective with minimal sets, properties and costumes, this touching, funny and insightful charmer is exceptionally easy to produce

Theophilus North

Theophilus North
Author: Thornton Wilder
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062943367

“An extremely entertaining array of American life in a bygone era.” — New Yorker The last of Thornton Wilder’s works published during his lifetime, Theophilus North is part autobiographical and part the imagined adventures of Wilder’s twin brother who died at birth. This edition features an updated afterword from Wilder’s nephew, Tappan Wilder, with illuminating material about the novelist, story and setting. Setting out to see the world in the summer of 1926, Theophilus North gets as far as Newport, Rhode Island, before his car breaks down. To support himself, Theophilus takes jobs in the elegant mansions along Ocean Drive, just as Wilder himself did in the same decade. Soon the young man finds himself playing the roles of tutor, tennis coach, spy, confidant, lover, friend and enemy as he becomes entangled in adventure and intrigue in Newport’s fabulous addresses, as well as in its local boarding houses, restaurants, dives and military barracks. Narrated by the elderly North from a distance of fifty years, Theophilus North is a fascinating commentary on youth and education from the vantage point of age, and deftly displays Wilder’s trademark wit juxtaposed with his lively and timeless ruminations on what really matters, at the end of the day, about life, love, and work.

Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder
Author: Penelope Niven
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 791
Release: 2012-10-30
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062097776

"Thornton Wilder: A Life brings readers face to face with the extraordinary man who made words come alive around the world, on the stage and on the page." —James Earl Jones, actor "Comprehensive and wisely fashioned….A splendid and long needed work." —Edward Albee, playwright Thornton Wilder—three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, creator of such enduring stage works as Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and beloved novels like Bridge of San Luis Ray and Theophilus North—was much more than a pivotal figure in twentieth century American theater and literature. He was a world-traveler, a student, a teacher, a soldier, an actor, a son, a brother, and a complex, intensely private man who kept his personal life a secret. In Thornton Wilder: A Life, author Penelope Niven pulls back the curtain to present a fascinating, three-dimensional portrait one of America's greatest playwrights, novelists, and literary icons.

The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia

The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia
Author: Thomas S. Hischak
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2022-03-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1538152401

Thornton Wilder is one of America’s greatest writers, and the only author to win Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and drama. Equally well known for his plays and novels, his unique and diverse body of work also includes essays, journals, lectures, and film and television scripts. In The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia, Thomas S. Hischak exhaustively covers Wilder’s life and extensive career. Entries not only contain every one of his novels, plays, and scripts, but also his letters, journals, and all other existing works by Wilder, published or unpublished. In addition, this valuable reference features entries on the individuals who worked with Wilder and friends and family members who were a great influence on him. With a biography of Wilder to introduce the work and a chronology and selected bibliography to augment the entries, The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference available on one of America’s greatest playwrights and finest novelists.

The Eighth Day

The Eighth Day
Author: Thornton Wilder
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2014-02-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062232681

“[Wilder's] finest and most beautiful novel. . . . Spanning two continents and several generations, it begins as a murder mystery and goes on to tell a story, at once dramatic and philosophical, about the range of human courage, aspirations, steadfastness, weakness, defeat and victory.” — New York Post This beautiful edition of Thornton Wilder’s renowned National Book Award–winning novel features a foreword by John Updike and an afterword by Tappan Wilder, who draws on unique sources as Wilder’s unpublished letters, handwritten annotations, and other illuminating documentary material. At once a murder mystery and a philosophical tale, The Eighth Day is a “suspenseful and deeply moving” (New York Times) work of classic stature that has been hailed as a great American epic. Set in a mining town in southern Illinois, the novels centers around two families blasted apart when the patriarch of one family, John Ashley, is accused of murdering his best friend. Ashley's miraculous jailbreak on the eve of his execution and his subsequent flight to South America trigger a powerful story tracing the fates of all those whose lives are forever changed by the tragedy: Ashley himself, his wife and children, and the wife and children of the victim.

Thornton Wilder and the Puritan Narrative Tradition

Thornton Wilder and the Puritan Narrative Tradition
Author: Lincoln Konkle
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2006
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0826264972

"Fresh examination of the works of Thornton Wilder emphasizing continuities in American literature from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. Sees Wilder as a literary descendant of Edward Taylor who drew from the Puritan worldview and tradition. Includes indepth readings of Shadow of a Doubt, The Trumpet Shall Sound, and others"--Provided by publisher.

American Literature on Stage and Screen

American Literature on Stage and Screen
Author: Thomas S. Hischak
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0786492791

The 525 notable works of 19th and 20th century American fiction in this reference book have many stage, movie, television, and video adaptations. Each literary work is described and then every adaptation is examined with a discussion of how accurate the version is and how well it succeeds in conveying the spirit of the original in a different medium. In addition to famous novels and short stories by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Willa Cather, many bestsellers, mysteries, children's books, young adult books, horror novels, science fiction, detective stories, and sensational potboilers from the past two centuries are examined.

Theatre World

Theatre World
Author: Ben Hodges
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2004-11
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9781557836342

(Theatre World). Highlights of this new Theatre World , now in its 59th year, include the 8-Tony winning Hairspray with award winners Harvey Firestein and Marissa Jaret Winokur; the Tony-winning Best Play Take Me Out ; hot director David Leveaux's reimagining of Nine: The Musical , featuring the sensational Antonio Banderas and Jane Krakowski; the star-studded revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night with Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Dennehy, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Sean Leonard; and the groundbreaking Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam . Notable Off-Broadway and touring productions include the anti-death penalty play The Exonerated ; Kate Mulgrew as Katharine Hepburn in Tea at Five ; Dinner at Eight with the late John Ritter; Talking Heads with Lynn Redgrave, Christine Ebersole and Kathleen Chalfant; and the highly regarded Stephen Adly Guirgis' Our Lady of 121st St. Theatre World, the statistical and pictorial record of the Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway seasons, touring companies, and professional regional companies throughout the United States, is a classic in its field. The book is complete with cast listings, replacements, producers, directors, authors, composers, opening and closing dates, and song titles. There are special sections with biographical data, obituary information, a longest-runs listing, an expanded theatrical awards section, and much more. Now featuring 16 pages of color photos! Over 600 photos in all. "Nothing brings back a theatrical season better, or holds on to it more lovingly, than John Willis' Theatre World an addiction for theatre buffs." Playbill "If you're looking for an elaborate visual record of a theatrical season, you'll want to opt for Theatre World ... It's a keeper." Back Stage

Thornton Wilder, Classical Reception, and American Literature

Thornton Wilder, Classical Reception, and American Literature
Author: Stephen J. Rojcewicz, Jr.
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2021-11-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000480747

This book delineates how Thornton Wilder (1897–1975), a learned playwright and novelist, embeds himself within the classical tradition, integrating Greek and Roman motifs with a wide range of sources to produce heart-breaking masterpieces such as Our Town and comedy sensations such as Dolly Levi. Through this study of archival sources and close reading, readers will understand Wilder’s avant-garde staging and innovative time sequences not as a break with the past, but as a response to the classics. The author traces the genesis of unforgettable characters like Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker, Emily Webb in Our Town, and George Antrobus in The Skin of Our Teeth. Vergil’s expression, "Here are the tears of the world, and human matters touch the heart" haunts Wilder’s oeuvre. Understanding Vergil’s phrase as "tears for the beauty of the world," Wilder utilizes scenes depicting the beauty of the world and the sorrow when individuals recognize this too late. Wilder exhorts us to observe lovingly, alert to the wonder of the everyday. This work will appeal to actors and directors, professors and students in classics and in American literature, those fascinated by modern drama and performance studies, and non-specialists, theatre-goers, and readers in the general public.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Author: Thornton Niven Wilder
Publisher: Aegitas
Total Pages: 75
Release: 2022-12-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0369408888

The story is based on a fictional disaster that occurred in Peru on July 20, 1714. A rope bridge woven by the Incas on the road between Lima and Cuzco collapsed when five people were crossing it. They all fell into the river from a great height and were killed. Brother Juniper, a Franciscan friar who was about to cross the bridge himself, witnessed the tragedy. Being deeply pious, he saw in what happened a possible divine providence. Did the dead deserve to have their lives cut short in such a terrible way? The monk tries to learn as much as he can about the five victims, finding and questioning people who knew them. As a result of years of investigation, he compiles a voluminous book with all the evidence he has gathered that the beginning and end of human life are part of God's plan... The Bridge of San Luis Rey won the 1928 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, and remains widely acclaimed as Wilder's most famous work. In 1998, the book was rated number 37 by the editorial board of the American Modern Library on the list of the 100 best 20th-century novels. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.