Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays & Writings on Theater

8vo, cloth in dj. Collected Plays and Writings on Theater, the most comprehensive one-volume edition of Thornton Wilderís work ever published, takes the measure of his extraordinary career as a dramatist by presenting the complete span of his achievement, beginning with his early expressionist experiments and daring one-act plays, such as ìThe Long Christmas Dinnerî and ìThe Happy Journey to Trenton and Camdenî (one of Wilderís personal favorites), ranging through the full flowering of Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Matchmaker, and encompassing the intriguing dramatic projects of his later years, such as his adaptation of the ancient story of Alcestis (The Alcestiad) and plays written for dramatic cycles based on the Seven Deadly Sins and the varied ages of an individualís life. Complementing the selection of plays is an illuminating group of essays that captures Wilderís reflections on his plays and contains a revealing epistolary account of the film adaptation of Our Town. This volume also includes material never before published: scenes from The Emporium, an ambitious unfinished play that, emerging out of Wilderís intense engagement with existentialist philosophy in the postwar years, imagines a Kafkaesque department store whose enigmatic activities are as inscrutable as the mysteries of life itself; and the complete screenplay Wilder wrote for Alfred Hitchcockís film Shadow of a Doubt just before reporting for military service in 1942. Although faithful to the spirit of the film, the screenplay presented here restores Wilderís original dialogue, some of which (to Wilderís dismay) was altered for the movie. A study of family life, youthful illusions, and the desperation of a criminal on the run, the Shadow of a Doubt screenplay is a masterful exhibition of the art of suspense and taut dramatic storytelling, and is an essential part of Wilderís oeuvre. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nationís literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, Americaís best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.