Tortton Niven Wilder (Wilder Thornton Niven)

(1897-1975)
Born April 17, 1897 in Madison (pc. Wisconsin). In 1920 he graduated from Yale University in 1925 received a master's degree at Princeton University. From 1930 to 1936 gave a course of comparative literature at the University of Chicago. He taught at Harvard and several other universities in t.ch. Europe.
Literary career began in 1926 novel Kabbalah (The Cabala) and the play he blow pipe (The Trumpet Shall Sound). He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 for the novel Bridge of San Luis Rey (The Bridge of San Luis Rey, 1927), in 1938 for Our Town (Our Town, 1938) and in 1943 for play on the verge of death (The Skin of Our Teeth, 1942). He was awarded gold medals of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1952 and 1962, and in 1965 - the first National Medal. In the novel The eighth day (The Eight Day, 1967; rus. translated 1976) in 1967 received the National Book Award.

A distinctive feature of plays Wilder - the deliberate violation of conventional dramatic techniques. As merchants of Yonkers (The Merchant of Yonkers, 1938; in 1954, remodeled in Svaha - The Matchmaker) Wilder brought the audience to stage action, forcing the characters to apply directly to the public. Our Town is performed on a stage without scenery and curtain. Used a few dummy objects being moved around the stage as an assistant director, who also commented on the action and describes the characters. In fact, the play is the story of this commentator and played under his leadership. The absence of scenery accentuates the theme: the eternity and universality of the rhythms of life, not limited geographical and time frames. The play is on the verge of death is in dramatic form, the eternal struggle of mankind for life and covers the entire path of civilization - from the Ice Age through biblical times to the modern New Jersey

. Also, . in drama, . varied background and a Wilder's prose - from pre-Christian Greece in Women with Andros (The Woman of Andros, . 1930) to the U.S. in 1920 in Theophile Norte (Theophilus North, . 1973) and in times of crisis the 1930's in the novel Sky - my abode (Heaven's My Destination, . 1935),
. Wilder touches in his novels the moral and philosophical themes that occupied humankind throughout history. The story of San Luis Rey Bridge crash on the bridge serves as a stimulus to reflect on the fact that controls human destiny - or fishing case. Life is treated as an integral, albeit a mysterious process. In March of Idaho (The Ides of March, 1948) through fictional letters and documents Julius Caesar is depicted as a figure, facing the same dilemma - the freedom of will or predestination.

Wilder died in Hamdene (pc. Connecticut) December 7, 1975.