Our+Town

=// Our Town // by Thornton Wilder =

Author Biography


Thornton Wilder was born in Madison Wisconsin, on April 17th, 1897 as the second son for four siblings. His parents, Amos Parker Wilder and Isabella Niven Wilder, moved the family to Hong Kong, China while his father served as a U.S. consul General there. The children started school in China, but the family returned to America when political issues became too unstable in 1912. The Family moved to California, where the children finished their high school career. During his time at Berkley High, Thornton became very interested in the school plays and he attended them often. Soon he started showing a great talent for writing as well. After graduating Berkly High in 1915, Thornton started out his collage years at Oberlin Collage, but transferred to Yale University in 1917. During World War I, Thornton volunteered to serve and found himself serving as First Coast Artillery in Rhode Island in 1918. After the war, Thornton returned to his quiet studies at Yale University. He received his Bachelor's degree in 1920 and moved to teach at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey while also studying to get his Master's degree at Princeton University. He finally received his Master's in 1926 the same year he published his first novel, The Cabala". 1930-36, Thornton taught at the University of Chicago, Illinois. Soon however, World War II started, and Thornton once again, volunteered. He ended up serving in Africa, Italy, and the U.S. and when his time involved was finished, he became a lecturer at Harvard University in the Early 1950s. After that, in1962, he retired to Arizona for about two years. In 1963, Thornton was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1965, he was awarded the National Medal for Literature, the first time ever presented to anyone. On December 17th, 1975, Thornton Wilder died of a heart attack in Hamden, Connecticut.

Plot Summary
The Book //Our town// is 143 pages of...