The first group of essays address Benet's life, times, and personal relationships. Thomas Carr Benet reminisces about his father in the first essay, and others consider Benet's marriage to his wife Rosemary; Archibald MacLeish, Thornton Wilder and Benet as friends, liberal humanists and public activists; and his friendships with Philip Barry, Jed Harris, and Thornton Wilder. The second group contains essays about Benet's poetry, fiction, and drama. They discuss Benet's role in the development of historical poetry in America, John Brown's Body and the Civil War, Hawthorne, Benet and historical...

The essays in "Thornton Wilder: New Perspectives" constitute a comprehensive critical reassessment at a time of renewed interest in the writer. Wilder is best known for "Our Town "and "The Bridge of San Luis Rey, "both winners of a Pulitzer Prize, making Wilder still the only writer to be so honored for both drama and fiction. His other fiction, in particular, is far less familiar to a wider readership. The authors of these essays aim to contextualize Wilder s work historically and to show that Wilder s handling of questions of religion, American identity, gender, and ethics should vault him...