Dedication: A. Tappan Wilder

Abstract

This second issue of Volume One of the Thornton Wilder Journal is dedicated to Amos Tappan Wilder in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his assuming the position of Thornton Wilder's literary executor. Tappy, as he is called by all who know him, has been responsible for making available many of his uncle's previously unpublished (or obscurely published) works, first in The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder, Volumes 1 and 2 (TCG Press), then in the HarperCollins paperback re-issues of Wilder's seven novels and three major plays, for which Tappy researched and wrote all of the critical afterwords. He worked with J. D. McClatchy to collect Wilder's plays, fiction, and selected essays in three Library of America volumes. He arranged for the publication of Wilder's American acting version of Ibsen's A Doll's House, which once held the record for the longest Broadway run of this modern classic. Furthermore, thanks to Tappy's generosity and open-mindedness, several of Wilder's works have been adapted into other art forms, for example, David Greenspan's 2018 stage version of Wilder's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and he has green-lighted innovative productions, such as the highly successful Our Town directed by David Cromer in 2009. Tappy has been a supporter of the Thornton Wilder Society from its incorporation in 2000, and has participated in all Society events, including the three international Wilder conferences. In short, the works and legacy of Thornton Wilder have thrived under Tappy's stewardship, for which we, the editors of the Thornton Wilder Journal along with the Thornton Wilder Society Board of Directors, are greatly appreciative.