William Sydney Porter: biography and photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

More than two hundred and eighty stories, humoresques, sketches and just one novel - all this was included in the bibliography of William Sidney Porter, known throughout the world under the pseudonym O. Henry. He had a subtle sense of humour. Each work ended with an unexpected denouement. The stories of William Sidney Porter are light, laid-back, concise. Many of them have been filmed. And what was the life of this amazing man? We offer you a story about the wonderful writer O. Henry, whose works you, no doubt, know very well.

Childhood

The future pen and paper genius lost his mother at the age of three. Tuberculosis brought a woman to the grave - a disease that became fatal in the life of William Sidney Porter. The biography of our hero begins in 1862 in the infamous city of Greensboro, located in the state of North Carolina.

Father quickly drank himself after the death of his wife. Willy (as he was called in a narrow circle) was brought up in the family of his aunt, to earn his living.began life at the age of fifteen. He received the speci alty of a pharmacist, got a job in a pharmacy counter. Such work did not in the best way affect his poor he alth. The young man inhaled the aromas of powders and potions every day, which was contraindicated for him, given the lung disease inherited from his mother.

The future writer William Sidney Porter hated his father. Peers called him none other than the son of the insane inventor Algernon. Why an inventor? Algernon Porter was reputed to be a loser, lived in poverty, lost his beloved wife - he poured all this heavily with alcohol and in the end completely lost his mind. In a drunken stupor, he often had "brilliant" ideas.

Texas

Willy worked at the pharmacy for a short time. In the early eighties, he went to the land of cowboys and farmers, where he lived on the ranch of his acquaintances for several months. At the age of sixteen, doctors discovered signs of tuberculosis in the future prose writer. Climate change was required.

At the ranch, he helped with the housework without paying for room and board. But he didn't get paid either. Having restored his he alth, the hero of our story left for Austin. Here he worked as an accountant, and an accountant, and a draftsman, and a cashier. Perhaps even then he dreamed of becoming a writer, and therefore he tried many professions, talked with various people, experienced many hardships, in a word, gained rich life experience. This became the basis for literary creativity.

William Porter's first stories were published in the early 80syears of the 19th century. Short pieces filled with humor and subtle observations gained instant popularity. Along with other materials - poems and drawings, they were present in almost every issue of the comic magazine The Rolling Stone.

Readers did not know the real name of the author. They were unaware that this talented writer wrote his first story not just anywhere, but in prison. William Sydney Porter did not give interviews, did not take pictures with readers and did not sign books for them. Editors have long puzzled over where this literary nugget came from. Journalists, as usual, made up fantastic stories.

Who was the author of small literary masterpieces, popular not only in the USA, but also far beyond its borders, in reality?

Waste

The future prose writer got a job at a bank, but soon quit, and then was involved in the case of embezzlement. Until now, there are disputes about the guilt of O. Henry. He really needed the money needed to treat his wife with tuberculosis.

The unlucky cashier ended up in prison a year later. He went on the run, lived for some time in New Orleans, then went to Honduras, where he met a remarkable person - Ell Jengson, a professional robber who later wrote a memoir.

O. Henry returned from his travels in 1897. By that time, his wife was dying. She died in July of that year. The fugitive was detained, tried, sent to prisonColumbus in Ohio. He spent more than three years in hard labor and, according to the writer's biographers, composed the first work.

Geographic Community

William Sidney Porter came up with a pseudonym for himself at the very beginning of his career. But there are several versions here. About the pseudonym of William Sidney Porter, more precisely, the history of the creation of the name O. Henry will be discussed further. Let's clarify the details of the literary debut.

Some researchers believe that O. Henry took up his pen long before the sad story of the loss of bank money. At the ranch, Willie became the subject of cowboy bullying. That is why he fled to Austin, where he found a job as a cartographer, which brings neither pleasure nor money. So the failed O. Henry would have vegetated, if not for a lucky break.

The boss entrusted the young man with writing a note about a geographical society. He brilliantly coped with the task. They paid a little money, but the point is different: William understood what his calling was.

Athol Roach

A photo of William Sydney Porter was dreamed of by fans of his work. But he was a non-public person. He had a rare talent as a storyteller, able to attract the attention of others with witty stories. However, he did not speculate with his success, he was never a womanizer. Athol Roach, whom he met at the age of 22, became the main woman in his life. The master of short prose married for the second time. But this happened already in another life - in the life of the famous writer O. Henry.

Atol was the daughter of the head of that same Geographical Society. That is, a rich bride. Parents did not appreciate the choice of their daughter. The wedding was hasty as Athol was expecting a baby.

So, William said goodbye to the bachelor lifestyle. After the wedding, Mr. Roach secured a position for his newly minted son-in-law, which soon made the half-destitute writer a thief and embezzler. Another detail in which the investigators saw the motives for the crime is that the prose writer needed money to publish a literary magazine.

Nickname

By the beginning of the 90s O. Henry's short stories were widely known. Few knew his real name. William Sydney Porter worked in the prison infirmary during his imprisonment and, surprisingly, he had time to write stories there. One day, in a society news column, he saw the name "Henry". He added the initial “O” to it, in such a simple way he created a pseudonym that became world famous at the beginning of the 20th century.

There are other versions. William Sidney Porter "O. Henry "formed on behalf of a certain French pharmacist or from the name of the prison in which he spent a little more than three years. He was released early for "good behaviour."

Creativity

The peak of his literary career came in 1904-1905. By the beginning of the century, he already had a wide readership, as publishers published his stories with pleasure. Small form, interesting, unexpected denouement, light satire - these are the main features of the unique literary styleAmerican classic.

In 1902 O. Henry moved to New York. Here he lived on a grand scale, learned to spend more than earn. And, of course, he was in debt. I had to write a lot, intensively. For Sunday World magazine, he created one story a day, receiving $100 for each small work. This was a very impressive amount for those times. This was how the work of recognized novelists was paid.

Over time, Porter slowed down the pace of literary productivity. "Gifts of the Magi", "Four Million", "Room in the Attic", "Gold and Love" - in these stories the author told about his work. What else did William Sidney Porter write? "The Last Leaf", "The Noble Rogue", "The Rotation". His only novel is called Kings and Cabbage. It was first published in 1904. Korney Chukovsky translated most of the short stories into Russian.

Kings and Cabbage

The action of the novel takes place in a fictional state - Anchuria. The inhabitants of the country spend their days in idleness, they are not embarrassed by poverty. The Anchuria government is staging one revolution after another.

Oh. Henry completed work on the work in 1904, but the book "Kings and Cabbage" also included stories published separately. Many short stories were written by him during his stay in Honduras, where he was hiding from justice. Among them are "Lotus and a Bottle", "Money Fever", "Game and Gramophone", "Artists". After 1904, the works were not published separately.

The title of the novel is an allusion to a poem from a book by Lewis Carroll. The shipping company is one of the main images inwork. Its prototype was the firm of Samuel Zemurray, a famous businessman and philanthropist.

Noble Rogue

This is a collection of short stories published in 1905 in New York. In all works there is a character named Jeff Peters. The story is told in his name. Jeff and another hero, Andy Tucker, make a living from fraud. They exploit human stupidity, greed, vanity. There are no these bright, interesting characters in only two stories - "The Silent Wind" and "Hostages of Momus".

Like many other works by O. Henry, The Noble Crook was first translated into Russian by Korney Chukovsky, and later by Joseph Baker. The book has been filmed four times. The last film based on the stories from the collection was released in 1997. This is the Belarusian film "The Case of Lokhovsky", in which the author's storylines are used quite freely.

Rotation

The collection was first published in 1910. It also consists of several short stories, namely: "The Doors of the World", "Theory and the Dog", "The Girl", "Victim at a Glance", "Operetta and Quarterly", "Perspective", etc. One of the films based on based on the short stories, is called "Business People". He was released in 1962.

The Secret of O. Henry

Let's return to the biography of the writer. In prison, he had enough time to practice writing novels. It was impossible to find a publishing house that would agree to print the criminal. He sent the manuscript to friends. Those, in turn, attributed the works of O. Henry topublishing house. Editors for a long time did not know the name of the author, who in just a few years became one of the most widely read American writers.

After Willie was accused of embezzlement, Athol's parents took their granddaughter Margaret away. Almost all the money he earned after his release went to the education of the girl. He did everything to ensure that others did not know that she was the daughter of a criminal. Margaret studied at the best and most expensive institutions.

Almost all writers write under pseudonyms. But few hide their real names as carefully as William Porter did. This is not surprising, because in his biography there were facts that were perceived too negatively by the then American society. Today, a former prisoner can write a novel, publish it. A criminal record will make him even more popular. Things were different at the beginning of the last century.

Oh. Henry was ashamed of his past. One day he told one of his friends that he had buried William Sidney Porter. But forgetting the past is not easy. The writer was found by his old acquaintance, who remembered him from the days when he was a modest pharmacist. She began to blackmail him. Porter began to drink more and more.

Towards the end of his life, the writer developed cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes. He married a sweet and simple woman named Saliha Coleman, who went to great lengths to discourage him from drinking. O. Henry died at the age of 47. The widow gave him back his real name, writing on the gravestone that in one of the cemeteries of Asheville, "William Sydney Porter."