Once you have read the post popular O'Henry Christmas story, The Gift Of The Magi, you will remember the twist ending.
Spoiler - at Christmas she sells her beautiful long hair to buy him a watch strap, but he sells his watch to buy her - you have to read it, or at least read the plot.
It is his most famous twist ending story but he wrote many more. As an author I always wanted to know the endings of his stories and whether there was an pattern, and what if anything in his character led him to write those unusual stories. At last I have found the answers to all these questions. Let's start at the beginning of his life.
O'Henry lead an interesting life. In those days life expectancy was less and the number of children was more. He was one of almost a dozen siblings. His mother died when he was a child and his younger sister died.
When he came of age, he eloped with an heiress who had TB (also then called consumption.)
Embezzelement & Prison
He held a job but was suspected of embezzling and fled to Hondurus. But his wife was too ill to travel. When he heard she was dying, he returned, she died, and he was imprisoned.
Pen Names
Whilst in prion he wrote short stories, some based on people he met, or at least, their professions. Once of his stories is about a man trying to get sent to prison. Another is about a lock picker. He used various names as pen names, possibly, probably, partly to hide his identity whilst a prisoner. One pen-name resembled the name of one of the prison guards.
So, he needed money and wrote stories featuring characters he met in prison.
His other source of plots was obtained by loitering around hotel lobbies and copying characters and stories picked up from conversation. (Somerset Maugha also picked up stories in hotels.)
Plots And Twist Endings
You can read a summary of three or more of the plots of his twist end stories in Wikipedia.
By the end of his life he was a reformed and respected character. He has been featured on a US postage stamp and several US presidents have tried to award him a posthumus (meaning after burial in the ground) pardon.
Quotations from O'Henry
... life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
- "The Gift of the Magi"
Visit the O'Henry Museum in Austin, Texas.
And it's free!
Information Line
Phone: 512-974-1398.
O'Henry Museum
409 East 5th Street
Austin
Texas 78701
USA.
Opening hours: Sunday to Wednesday, noon to 5 pm.
Parking: On street metered parking.
US flag.
USA
visittheusa.co.uk
Texas
O'Henry House Museum (Information, map and directions)
http://www.austintexas.gov/department/o-henry-museum
O'Henry Books
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/authors/search/?query=Henry,+O.
O'Henry Life and Short Story Plots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry
O'Henry Quotations
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/O._Henry
About The Blog Post Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author of short stories. Please share links to your favourite posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment