Man and the Divine: religious concerns in Wilder's early dramic works

Abstract

Thornton Niven Wilder's early dramatic works display a keen interest in free artistic expression not yet tempered by the theatricality of his later plays. These plays clearly demonstrate Wilder's search for the right form, and show him to be motivated by a desire to express man's spiritual state. Wilder published numerous works, winning many awards and world-wide acclaim. However, this study will consider only his early dramatic work and follow the development of a major concern of his: explaining life in order to give a sense of the unity of the universe and to fashion an adjustment between the physical world and the transcendent, the here and the hereafter, the human and the divine.