EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT
November 2015 ENGLISH READING CLUB ENJOY READING!
THORNTON WILDER
The long Christmas dinner
Thornton Wilder
(Madison, Wisconsin, 17 April 1897- Hamden, Connecticut, 7 Dec.1975)
Thornton Niven Wilder was a multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright known for works like The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Ides of March and Our Town. Thornton grew up in a highly educated and accomplished family. His father was a newspaper owner and editor. His mother was well-educated, cultured and a successful poet. Both parents instilled a love of the classics and intellectual curiosity in all their children. While in high school in California, Thornton became interested in theater and writing. Upon graduating, he enrolled at Yale University in 1917. When the United States was drawn into World War I, Wilder volunteered for the 1st Coast Artillery in Rhode Island. During the 1920s, Thornton Wilder moved between extensively teaching, writing and His first novel, In the 1930s, Thornton Wilder began writing plays for Broadway. His first scripts were translations of the works of European playwrights, such as Andre Obey's Lucrece (1932) and A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (1937). Wilder joined the war (II WW) effort, enlisting in the U.S. Army and rising to lieutenant colonel, serving as an Air Force intelligence officer and earning the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star. While living in Chicago, he became friends with Gertrude Stein. Wilder never referred to his homosexuality, but it is believed that he had one or two affairs with younger men and a male lover in his later years. Publically, he was more renowned for his wide circle of friends, which included Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather and Montgomery Clift. Thornton Wilder died in his sleep on December 7, 1975, of an apparent heart attack. More info http://www.thorntonwilder.com/
SELECTED WORKS Novels The Cabala, 1926. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, 1927, Pulitzer Prize. The skin of our teeth,1942, Pulitzer Prize. The woman of Andros, 1948. The Ides of March, 1948. The eighth day, 1967. Theofilus North,1973, known as film version “Mr. North”.
Drama The long Christmas dinner, 1931. Our town, 1938, Pultzer Prize. The Matchmaker, 1954, known as film version “Hello, Dolly!”.
Translations and screen plays Lucrece, Andre Obey, 1932 A Doll's House, Ibsen, 1937. Shadow of a doubt, Hitchcock screenplay, 1943.
The Long Christmas Dinner (1931) The Long Christmas Dinner–nine decades long–showcases the lives of several generations of the Bayard family, and some of their Christmas dinners. Wilder breaks the boundaries of time as we measure it, and invites us to partake of “one long, happy Christmas dinner”-past, present and future. As generations appear, have children, wither and depart, only the audience appreciates what changes and what remains the same. The Long Christmas Dinner inspired a famous scene in Orson Welles's 1941 film “Citizen Kane” montage
in
which
the
nine-year
—
the
breakfast-table
deterioration
of
Kane's
marriage is told through a conversation seen in five vignettes.
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Horaris Hivern Dilluns de 15.30 a 21h De dimarts a divendres de 10 a 21h Dissabte de 10 a 19h Estiu
Juliol:
Dilluns de 15.30 a 21 hores. De dimarts a divendres de 10 a 21 hores Dissabtes de 10 a 14 hores
Agost:
Dilluns a divendres de 15.30 a 21 hores. Dissabtes de 10 a 14 hores