The bridge of San Luis Rey

A recent critic has labeled Thornton Wilder an Unfashionable Optimist, whose works embody his "concern with, admiration for and love of human life at its most ordinary. ..." And though he has been damned as the model of adolescent enthusiasm in a decaying world (as well as honored by governments and universities), Wilder himself, like many of his fictional characters, seems to keep a bear hug on life. "The most valuable thing I inherited," he once said in an interview, "was a temperament that does not revolt against Necessity and that is constantly renewed in Hope."