The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Thornton Wilder's second novel, won him the first of his three Pulitzer Prizes. The novel opens in the aftermath of an inexplicable tragedy—a tiny footbridge in Peru breaks, and five travelers hurtle to their deaths. Most townspeople think to themselves with secret joy, "Within 10 minutes myself...."
But for Brother Juniper, a humble Franciscan friar who witnesses the catastrophe, the question is inescapable: Why those five? Suddenly, Brother Juniper is committed to discover what manner of lives these five disparate people led—and whether it was divine intervention that took their lives, or a capricious fate.
Wilder maintained in his works that true meaning and beauty are found in ordinary experience. This is especially true of The Bridge of San Luis Rey. From the very beginning to the stunning conclusion, the listener is absorbed into the individual stories of the five victims, and how their destinies intertwine.
Original material © 1927 Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. Copyright © 1955 renewed by Thronton Wilder.Recorded by arrangement with A. Tappan Wilder, Catharine Wilder Guiles, Catharine K. Wilder,a nd the Barbara Hogenson Agency.
In this Pulitzer Prize winner, a bridge collapses in eighteenth-century Peru; five die. Who were they? In the answer to that question lie numerous cosmic ironies, which are related in a melancholy narrative of great power, simplicity and beauty. Waterston, star of NBC's "Law and Order," never possessed a strong voice. Time has made it hoarse and scratchy. Nonetheless, he reads intelligently with just the right sombre tone. As is usual with HighBridge titles, the sound quality is pristine. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
THORNTON WILDER was an American playwright and novelist. His novel I>The Bridge of San Luis Rey won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and in 1998 it was selected by the editorial board of the American Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the twentieth century.
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