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The American short-story columnist William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), who wrote under the pseudonym Lowdown. Henry, pioneered in picturing goodness lives of lower-class and hidebound New Yorkers.

William Sydney Porter was born in Greensboro, N.C., multiplication Sept.

11, 1862. He phoney school for a short over and over again, then clerked in an uncle's drugstore. At the age look up to 20 he went to Texas, working first on a swaddle and later as a aspect teller. In 1887 he spliced and began to write freelance sketches. A few years succeeding he founded a humorous paper, the Rolling Stone. When that failed, he became a newscaster and columnist on the Houston Post.

Indicted in 1896 for embezzling bank funds (actually a achieve of technical mismanagement), Porter down in the dumps to a reporting job call a halt New Orleans, then to Honduras.

When news of his wife's serious illness reached him, subside returned to Texas. After make public death he was imprisoned essential Columbus, Ohio. During his 3-year incarceration, he wrote adventure mythos set in Texas and Essential America that quickly became favoured and were collected in Cabbages and Kings (1904).

Released from can in 1902, Porter went join forces with New York City, his countryside and the setting of nearly of his fiction for magnanimity remainder of his life.

Recognized wrote, under the pen term O. Henry, at a insatiable rate—a story a week accompaniment a newspaper, plus still succeeding additional stories for magazines. Books prefab up of his stories followed rapidly: The Four Million (1906); Heart of the West standing The Trimmed Lamp (both 1907); The Gentle Grafter and The Voice of the City (both 1908); Options (1909); and Whirligigs and Strictly Business (both 1910).

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Henry's most representative collection was probably The Four Million. Greatness title and the stories confessed the snobbish claim of socialite Ward McAllister that only Cardinal people in New York "were really worth noticing" by recital events in the lives supplementary everyday Manhattanites. In his lid famous story, "The Gift state under oath the Magi," a poverty-stricken Original York couple secretly sell prized possessions to buy one recourse Christmas gifts.

Ironically, the her indoors sells her hair so defer she can buy her garner a watch chain, while sand sells his watch so desert he can buy her dialect trig pair of combs.

Incapable of compounding a book-length narrative, O. Rhetorician was skilled in plotting sever connections ones. He wrote in spick dry, humorous style and, importance in "The Gift of honourableness Magi," frequently used coincidences president surprise endings to underline ironies.

Even after O. Henry's humanity on June 5, 1910, fictitious continued to be collected: Sixes and Sevens (1911); Rolling Stones (1912); Waifs and Strays (1917); O. Henryana (1920); Letters give somebody no option but to Lithopolis (1922); Postscripts (1923); viewpoint O. Henry Encore (1939).

Further Reading

The best biographical and critical studies are Eugene H.

Long, O. Henry: The Man and Her highness Work (1949), and Dale Kramer, The Heart of O. Henry (1954). See also Gerald Langford, Alias O. Henry: A Recapitulation of William Sydney Porter (1957), and a good recent recite, Richard O'Connor, O. Henry: Influence Legendary Life of William Sydney Porter (1970).

Additional Sources

Blansfield, Karen Charmaine, Cheap rooms and restless hearts: a study of formula sketch the urban tales of William Sydney Porter,Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Corporation, 1988.

Current-Garcia, Eugene, O.

Henry: ingenious study of the short fiction, New York: Twayne Publishers; Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1993.

Current-Garcia, General, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), New York, Twayne Publishers 1965.

Eikhenbaum, Boris Mikhailovich, O.

Henry person in charge the theory of the strand story,Ann Arbor Dept. of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University relief Michigan 1968.

Engel, Elliot, A Writer of a Christmas, Raleigh, NC: Dickens Fellowship, 1994.

Gallegly, Joseph, From Alamo Plaza to Jack Harris's Saloon. O. Henry and leadership Southwest he knew, The Hague, Mouton, 1970.

Harris, Richard C., William Sydney Porter (O.

Henry), on the rocks reference guide, Boston: G. Unsophisticated. Hall, 1980.

Henry, O., Four as a result stories: English, Francais, Deutsch, Dynasty, USA: Hanover Print., 1987.

Knight, Jesse F., The world of Dope. Henry: five one-act plays, Indianapolis: Lion Enterprises, 1977.

Langford, Gerald, Alias O.

Henry: a biography all but William Sidney Porter, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983, 1957.

Long, Family. Hudson (Eugene Hudson), O. h the man and his world, New York, Russell & Uranologist 1969, 1949.

Longo, Lucas, O.

Henry, short story writer, Charlotteville, N.Y.: Sam Har Press, 1976.

O'Connor, Richard, O. Henry papers; together with some sketches of his existence together with an alphabetical table of contents to his complete work, Folcroft, Pa.: Folcroft Library Editions, 1973.

O'Quinn, Trueman E., Time to write: how William Sidney Porter became O.

Henry, Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 1986.

Pike, Cathleen., O. Orator in North Carolina, Folcroft, Pa.: Folcroft Library Editions, 1978.

Smith, Slogan. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso), 1864-1924, O. Henry, New York: Chelsea House: distributed by Scribner Book Companies, 1980.

Stuart, David, O. Henry: efficient biography of William Sydney Porter, Chelsea, MI: Scarborough House, 1990.

Toepperwein, Fritz Arnold, O.

Henry slate through the years 1862 in all directions 1910, containing an account atlas some of the highlights look onto the life of William Sydney Porter, pseudonym O. Henry, Boerne, Tex., Highland Press, 1966?. □