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Journalism of Courage
When Thornton Wilder wore his glasses,which was much of the time,he had a mild,professorial airlike an owl,some said. Catch him without spectacles,though,and the change was extreme. His blue eyes had what one reporter called a blade-like sharpness. They reminded you that behind his genial demeanour lay one of the toughest and most complicated minds in contemporary America.
There,in brief,is the Wilder conundrum. When he is remembered today,it is almost always in his owl persona,as the folksy author of a folksy play,Our Town. But this gets both play and author almost completely backward. Our Town isnt a nostalgic wallow in small-town life,its a harrowing story about human limitationall the beauty and value we fail to recognise in our day-to-day lives.
For people who know Wilder only via his plays,the mere existence of these books may come as a surprise. In fact,his fiction came before his drama. Though he won a Pulitzer for Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth,hed already collected one in 1928 for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Even now,he remains the only writer to be so recognised in both art forms.
All of Wilders books depict a world shimmering with mysteries. Hes one of literatures most earnest explorers of faith and love. The heroes of four novels and an important character in the fifth all wonder explicitly if theres a God and try to puzzle out his intentions.
This question looms particularly large in Heavens My Destination. Wilder depicted the travels of George M. Brush through the Depression-era heartland. All he wants is to find his girl,sell his textbooks,and discover why God lets bad things happen to good people. Wilder showed a comic touch here,giving the Gandhi-worshiping George a trial scene worthy of Joseph Heller.
The Bridge of San Luis Rey is his delicate,devastating masterpiece. When a Peruvian bridge collapses and sends five people to their deaths,a monk sets out to learn all he can about the deceased,to reveal whether we live by plan or by chance.
