Word: thornton
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...natural expression of mine. It is part of my inheritance." His father, Amos Parker Wilder, was a Maine Congregationalist who took the pledge at seven, a Ph.D. in economics at Yale, and finally bought a newspaper in Madison, Wis. By the time a set of twins came along (Thornton's brother was stillborn), Amos Wilder had developed his own notions of education. Outside his own home, he was all charm and wit; as an after-dinner speaker, he could rival Chauncey Depew. But in his own home, he was a dominie indeed...
Ostensibly, Thornton Niven Wilder was in Europe to finish a new play and to work on a book of essays. But as usual he was finding it impossible not to be obliging. The three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author (The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth) was not acting like an orthodox author. In his 55 years, he rarely...
...Piper of the ship. His habit of pacing about a room, lecturing to his friends ("Now, my Kinder, let me tell you about . . ."), once led Theatrical Director Garson Kanin to remark: "Whenever I'm asked what college I've attended, I'm tempted to write 'Thornton Wilder.' " Over the years, Thornton Wilder College has taught a number of courses, in & out of classrooms. His latest course: what it is to be an American...
...wife Isabella had French blood in her veins and gaiety in her heart, and she, too, had notions about education. While Amos read Scott, Dickens and Shakespeare for their moral lessons ("He thought that King Lear was about how fathers should be nice to their daughters," says Thornton), his wife read Yeats and Maeterlinck for their beauty. Mr. Wilder was always fearful for his children's spiritual safety, and was forever lecturing them on how to defend themselves against a wicked world. "Now, dear boy," he would say, twirling his amethyst watch fob, "even...
...Thornton was the second of five children, and his father had anxious plans for each of them. Amos, the eldest, was to be a minister (he is now professor of New Testament at Chicago); Charlotte a doctor (she became a professor and poet) ; Isabel a nurse (she became a novelist); and Janet a scientist (she gave up zoology for marriage). When it came to Thornton, father Wilder had little hope: "Poor Thornton, poor Thornton," he would say, "he'll be a burden all his life...