Thornton Wilder and The Bridge of San Luis Rey: A Modernist and a Masterpiece
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
Thornton Wilder, modernism, literature, spatial form, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Department
English
Major
English literature
Abstract
In this essay I argue that reading the literary works of Thornton Wilder as belonging to the modernist movement is rewarding and justified because his works in general, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey in particular, exhibit: a style informed by his great familiarity with the works of the foremost modernist authors like T.S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, and James Joyce; a structure organized according to the principles of spatial form as defined by Joseph Frank in “Spatial Form in Modern Literature,” his seminal essay outlining the common structures of modernist literature; and a setting that contributes to the type of fin-de-siècle anxiety identified by Frank Kermode as characteristic of the modernists. Moreover, I refute the claim that Wilder’s works indulge in the sort of optimism that would prevent them from truly belonging to the modernist movement, demonstrating that what has been mistaken for optimism in Wilder’s works is better defined as a sort of hope that also characterized the eschatological beliefs of authors who are unquestionably modernists, such as T.S. Eliot. Placing Wilder and his diverse corpus into a single literary category or movement has troubled readers of Wilder since the earliest criticism on his works was published, and I do not intend to settle the question with this essay. However, recognizing that the toolbox of critical techniques first developed to understand the works of the modernists can be applied fruitfully to Wilder’s works opens the door to a greater understanding of several aspects of his body of work.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Paul Contino
Funding Source or Research Program
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Presentation Session
Session B
Location
Plaza Classroom 188
Start Date
3-4-2015 3:45 PM
End Date
3-4-2015 4:00 PM
Thornton Wilder and The Bridge of San Luis Rey: A Modernist and a Masterpiece
Plaza Classroom 188
In this essay I argue that reading the literary works of Thornton Wilder as belonging to the modernist movement is rewarding and justified because his works in general, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey in particular, exhibit: a style informed by his great familiarity with the works of the foremost modernist authors like T.S. Eliot, Marcel Proust, and James Joyce; a structure organized according to the principles of spatial form as defined by Joseph Frank in “Spatial Form in Modern Literature,” his seminal essay outlining the common structures of modernist literature; and a setting that contributes to the type of fin-de-siècle anxiety identified by Frank Kermode as characteristic of the modernists. Moreover, I refute the claim that Wilder’s works indulge in the sort of optimism that would prevent them from truly belonging to the modernist movement, demonstrating that what has been mistaken for optimism in Wilder’s works is better defined as a sort of hope that also characterized the eschatological beliefs of authors who are unquestionably modernists, such as T.S. Eliot. Placing Wilder and his diverse corpus into a single literary category or movement has troubled readers of Wilder since the earliest criticism on his works was published, and I do not intend to settle the question with this essay. However, recognizing that the toolbox of critical techniques first developed to understand the works of the modernists can be applied fruitfully to Wilder’s works opens the door to a greater understanding of several aspects of his body of work.