在現實生活的人類經驗中，時間單向前進的絕滅特性和空間無法置換的本質不是用紀錄或回憶的單一方式就可挽回生命中喜怒哀樂共冶的時時刻刻，但是美國劇作家桑頓．懷爾德(1897-1975)透過劇場演出的藝術形式，驅使觀眾直接面對和思考人生境遇中普遍存在的狀況。他打破時空限制，跨越現在與過去，讓舞台上的時空流動、交錯，描繪出生命無可復返，實則循環重複的特徵，深刻地傳達了他對生命價值的肯定和樂觀態度。

　　«吾鎮» (Our Town, 1938) 一劇中，除了僅有的桌椅和樓梯為道具，幾乎運用啞劇手法，以想像和虛擬的方式傳達日常生活種種實存的一面。懷爾德更安排了舞台監督這個充滿戲劇性人物，引領觀眾從淡忘的記憶中，看到劇中角色從日常生活、愛情與婚姻、以及死亡中，感受生命的溫馨和綿延，看著劇中平淡樸實的對話或獨白，我們更能謙卑地回歸“人”的身分和本質，體會人與人之間的關係 ;體會生活、生存和生命、以及人的一生最根本之處與最錯綜複雜的糾纏。有些批評家稱«九死一生» (The Skin of Our Teeth, 1942) 是懷爾德的最佳作品，儘管二劇的劇場形式相似，但本劇有別於«吾鎮»平實質樸的風格，呈現了主題在象徵意義上的深邃和多層面，並鼓舞人類面對逆境災難時爲生存所激發的勇氣。其實，兩劇所呈現的正是文學創作的光輝。

　　本論文共有五個章節。第一章為緒論，第二、三章分別討論懷爾德的兩部獲美國普立茲獎肯定之劇作«吾鎮»和«九死一生»的劇場形式和表現。前者的戲劇形式和德國著名作家布萊希特的史詩劇場戲劇理論有不謀而合之處，而後者劇中角色和現實生活中表演者的混淆與衝突，則和義大利劇作家皮藍德婁的戲劇處理手法相仿。當然，在兩劇中共同呈現的象徵和表現主義色彩也在討論範圍之內。第四章探討在其戲劇形式背後，普遍存在的主題與現實，作者也發現懷爾德的作品中多少帶點浪漫主義和存在主義的思想。第五章則為結論。

　　Due to the absoluteness of time’s elapsing and the irreplaceable nature of space, every mood out of human experience can be neither recorded nor recollected and every moment in real life cannot be returned, either. However, the American playwright Thornton Wilder (1897 – 1975) enables his audiences to face and ponder those universal conditions through the form of his theatre. Wilder’s unique treatment of theatre, by shattering the conventional limitations of time and space, makes the duration on the stage unconfined and across the past and present. His revolutionary techniques and proficient style of writing are devoted to depicting life’s unreturnable yet circular and continual qualities, which profoundly express his optimistic attitudes and affirmation of human life. By and large, his plays are meant to share his open-minded outlook on life and comprehensive view of the universe.

　　In Our Town, only a few chairs and ladders are economically used instead of piles of actual properties. Wilder employs the skill of pantomime to present every existent appearance in our daily life by means of imagination. Moreover, he produces a dramatic central figure, the Stage Manager, to remind the audience of their nearly forgotten memories through regular routine, love, marriage, and death to understand life further and to feel its ardor and continuity. The most substantial but complicated entanglement in human life are all displayed here. Some critics consider The Skin of Our Teeth is Wilder’s best play for the depth and diversity of its theme, in which he emphasizes man’s courage stimulated by disasters and predicaments of the human existence.

　　The first chapter is a general introduction. In Chapters Two and Three, Wilder’s two Pulitzer-Prized dramas, Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, are respectively studied in the light of its form and presentation. Our Town, in some aspects, resembles the theatricality of Bertolt Brecht’s “Epic Theatre” and The Skin of Our Teeth, in terms of the treatment of characters and actors, reflects similar theatrical style and belief in Luigi Pirandello’s plays. The theatrical features related to Symbolism, Expressionism, and other literary movements are also in the realm of discussion. In Chapter Four, I try to explore the ubiquity of reality of the two plays. Chapter Five is here by a conclusion.

Works by Thornton Wilder
Wilder, Thornton. American Characteristics and Other Essays. Ed. Donald Gallup. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1979.
------. Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Matchmaker. Taipei: Bookman Books Ltd., 1984.
------. “Some Thoughts on Playwrighting.” Playwrights on Playwrighting: the Meaning and Making of Modern Drama From Ibsen to Ionesco. Ed. by Toby Cole. New York: Hill and Wang, 1961. 106-15. Also Rpt. in AC. 115-26.
------. The Journals of Thornton Wilder, 1939-1961. Ed. Donald Gallup. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.

Works by Others

Abbott, Anthony S. The Vital Lie---Reality and Illusion in Modern Drama. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press,1989.

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.

Atkinson, Brook and Albert Hirschfeld. The Lively Years 1920-1973: A Half-Century of the Most Significant Plays on Broadway. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1985.

Berkowitz, Gerald. “Thornton (Niven) Wilder.” Contemporary American Dramatists. Ed. by K. A. Berney and intro. by Holly Hill. London: St. James Press, 1994. 632-36.

Bigsby, C. W. E. “Thornton Wilder.” A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-century American Drama. Vol. 1 1900-1940. New York: Cambridge UP, 1982. 256-73.

Broussard, Louis. “Thornton Wilder.” American Drama: Contemporary Allegory from Eugene O’Neill to Tennessee Williams. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962. 92-103.

Bryer, Jackson R., ed. Conversations with Thornton Wilder. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992.

Burbank, Rex. Thornton Wilder. 2nd ed. New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1978.

Chadwick, Charles. Symbolism. London: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1971.

Chang, Ivan W. “Themes and Techniques in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth.” M.A. Thesis. Tamkang University, 1986.

Chiu, Hui-ling. “Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and the Chinese Adaptation of Little Town, Tanshui: The Presentation of a Universal Theme.” M.A. Thesis. National Cheng Kung University, 1997.

Corrigan, Robert W. “Thornton Wilder and the Tragic Sense of Life.” Essays in the Modern Drama. Ed. by Morris Freedman. Taipei: Bookman Books Ltd., 1990. 311-19.

Coy, Bob Mc. “Thornton Wilder in Our Town (1974).” Conversations with Thornton Wilder. Ed. by Jackson R. Bryer. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992. 110-15.

Fan, Hsiu-chuan. “Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Its Precursors: The Reflection of Cross-culture.” M. A. Thesis. National Cheng Kung University, 1997.

Furness, R. S. Expressionism. London: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1973.

Gallup, Donald and A. Tappan Wilder, eds. The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder. Vol.1 New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1997.

Garcia, Eugene Current. “Our Town by Thornton Wilder.” Contemporary American Dramatists. Ed. by K. A. Berney and intro. by Holly Hill. London: St. James Press, 1994. 708-9.

Gassner, John, ed. A Treasury of the Theatre. Vol. 3 New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951. 926-27.
------. “The Two Worlds of Thornton Wilder.” The Collected Short Plays of Thornton Wilder. Vol.1 Eds. by Donald Gallup and A. Tappan Wilder. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1997. 311-20.

Gelder, Robert Van. “Interview with a Best-Selling Author: Thornton Wilder (1948).” Conversations with Thornton Wilder. Ed. by Jackson R. Bryer. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992. 41-45.

Goldstein, Malcolm. The Art of Thornton Wilder. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965.

Goldstone, Richard H. Thornton Wilder: An Intimate Portrait. New York: Saturday Review Press/Dutton, 1975.

Grebanier, Bernard. Thornton Wilder. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1964.

Gunton, Sharon R. and Laurie Lanzen Harris, eds. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 15. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1980.

Haberman, Donald C. Our Town: An American Play. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989.
------. The Plays of Thornton Wilder: A Critical Study. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1967.

Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 7th ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996.

Johns, Sally. “Thornton Wilder.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth-century American Dramatists. Part 2: K-Z. Vol. 7 Ed. by John MacNicholas. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1981. 304-19.

Johnson, Thomas H., ed. The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1960.

Lewis, Flora. “Thornton Wilder at 65 Looks Ahead – and Back (1962).” Conversations with Thornton Wilder. Ed. by Jackson R. Bryer. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992. 92-8.

Lifton, Paul. Vast Encyclopedia: The Theatre of Thornton Wilder. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995.

McGhee, Peter S. “A Hermit in Chilmark, Thornton Wilder Works on Novel and Watches Sun Rise at Gay Head (1965).”
Conversations with Thornton Wilder. Ed. by Jackson R. Bryer. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992. 99-105.

Meitcke, W. Barron’s Book Notes: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. Woodbury: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 1985.

Miller, Jordan Y. and Winifred L. Frazer. “The Fanciful Flights of Fantasy.” American Drama Between the Wars: A Critical History. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. 232-46.

Mordden, Ethan. The American Theatre. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Pfister, Manfred. The Theory and Analysis of Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Pirandello, Luigi. “Six Characters in Search of an Author.” Masterpiece of the Drama. 6th ed. Ed. by D. Anthony English. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991. 605-36.

Pritchard, William H. “Talking Back to Emily Dickinson.” Talking Back to Emily Dickinson and Other Essays. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998. 86-97.

Scanlan, Tom. “The Family World of American Drama.” Family, Drama, and American Dreams. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1978. 180-217.

Styan, J. L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice Vol. 2: Symbolism, Surrealism, and the Absurd. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
------. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice Vol.3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Szondi, Peter. “Tentative Solutions.” Theory of the Modern Drama. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1965. 63-95.

T’eng, I-lu (滕以魯). “The Human Comedies of Thornton Wilder.” (<桑頓．魏爾德的人生喜劇>) Mei-kuo wen-hsueh yu ssu-hsiang yen-t'ao-huei lun-wen-chi <<美國文學與思想研討論文集>>. Taipei: Institute of American Culture of Academic Sinica, 1983. 47-60.

Trudeau, Lawrence J. “Thornton Wilder.” Drama Criticism. Vol. 1 Detroit: Gale research Inc., 1991. 472-519.

Unger, Leonard, ed. “Thornton Wilder.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. Vol. IV. New York: Charles Scribner’s Son’s Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1974. 355-77.

Weiss, Samuel A. “Bertolt Brecht 1898 - 1956.” Drama in the Modern World: Plays and Essays. Lexington, Massachusetts: D. C. Heath and Company, 1964. 373-417.

Weng, Yi-ching. “Boundary-Breaking in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.” M. A. Thesis. National Taiwan Normal University, 1994.

Wilder, Amos Niven. Thornton Wilder and His Public. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980.

Williams, Tennessee. “The Timeless World of a Play.” The Rose Tattoo: Play in Three Acts. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1979. 4-7.

桑頓．懷爾德著，湯新楣、劉文漢 合譯，<<懷爾德戲劇選>> 香港 : 今日世界社，1965年。

布羅凱特著，胡耀恒譯，<<世界戲劇藝術欣賞>> 台北 : 志文出版社，1991年。