Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Quote of the Day (Thornton Wilder, on Wit)


“Wit is the permitted suspension of decorum and the retaliation of the underdog.”—Thornton Wilder, “Noting the Nature of Farce,” The New York Times, January 8, 1939

Thornton Wilder was born on this date in 1897 in Madison, Wisc. One of America’s most distinguished men of letters, he won Pulitzer Prizes not only for a novel (The Bridge of San Luis Rey, 1927) but also for plays (Our Town, 1938, and The Skin of Our Teeth, 1942). He is also known for the comedy The Matchmaker (the basis for the musical Hello, Dolly) and—a greater surprise—the screenplay for one of Alfred Hitchcock’s darkest films, Shadow of a Doubt.

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