o′henry

1、O. Henry (1862-1910) - pseudonym of William Sydney Porter Prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. Typical for O. Henry's st

2、ories is a twist of plot which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance. Although some critics were not so enthusiastic about his work, the public loved it. “He wrote love stories, a thing I have always kept free

3、from, holding the belief that the well-known and popular sentiment is not properly matter for publication, but something to be privately handled by the alienist and the florist.“ (from 'The Plutonian Fire') O. He

4、nry was born William Sydney Porter in Greenboro, North Carolina. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his parental grandmother and paternal au

5、nt. William was an avid reader, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store and on a Texas ranch. He continued to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of bank clerk. After

6、moving in 1882 to Texas, he worked on a ranch in LaSalle County for two years. In 1887 he married Athol Estes Roach; they had one daughter and one prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry. According to some source

7、s, he acquired the pseudonym from a warder called Orrin Henry. It also could be an abbreviation of the name of a French pharmacist, Eteinne-Ossian Henry, found in the U.S. Dispensatory, a reference work Porter used when

8、he was in the prison pharmacy. O. Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also publishing in other magazines. Henry's first collecti

9、on, CABBAGES AND KINGS, appeared in 1904. The second, THE FOUR MILLION, was published two years later and included his well-known stories 'The Gift of the Magi', about a poor couple and their Christmas gifts, and

10、 'The Furnished Room'. THE TRIMMED LAMP (1907) explored the lives of New Yorkers and included 'The Last Leaf' - the city itself Henry liked to call 'Bagdad-on the-Subway.' In this sentimental piec

11、e, about two women artists and their failed artist friend, the theme is selfishness, as in 'The Gift of the Magi', but there is also a lesbian undercurrent, which separates it from O. Henry's run-of-the-mill

12、works. In 'One Dollar's Worth' O. Henry criticized the merciless judicial system. Judge Derwent receives a letter from an ex-convict, in which the writer, 'Rattlesnake' threatens his daughter and the