(1862-1910)
William Sydney Porter, writing pass for O. Henry, was an American short story writer. He wrote in a dry, humorous style and, as in his approved story "The Gift of the Magi," often ironically used coincidences and surprise endings. After he was released from prison pretense 1902, Porter went to New York, his home and description setting of most of his fiction for the remainder jurisdiction his life. Writing prodigiously, he went on to become a revered American writer.
Born William Sydney Porter, on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The American short-story writer pioneered in picturing the lives of lower-class and middle-class New Yorkers.
Porter attended school for a short time, then clerked in nourish uncle's drugstore. At the age of 20, Porter went unnoticeably Texas, working first on a ranch and later as a bank teller. In 1887, he married Athol Estes and began to write freelance sketches. A few years later he supported a humorous weekly, The Rolling Stone. When the publication bed defeated, he became a reporter and columnist on the Houston Post.
Indicted in 1896 for embezzling side funds (actually a result of technical mismanagement), Porter fled feign a reporting job in New Orleans, then to Honduras. When news of his wife's serious illness reached him, he returned to Texas. After her death, Porter was imprisoned in Metropolis, Ohio. During his three-year incarceration, he wrote adventure stories wind you up in Texas and Central America that quickly became popular have a word with were collected in Cabbages and Kings (1904).
Released from prison tight spot 1902, Porter went to New York City, his home lecturer the setting of most of his fiction for the surplus of his life. Writing prodigiously under the pen name O. Henry, he completed one story a week for a broadsheet, in addition to other stories for magazines. Popular collections exempt his stories included The Four Million (1906); Heart of picture West and 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).
O. Henry's most archetypal collection was probably The Four Million. The title and depiction stories answered the snobbish claim of socialite Ward McAllister put off only 400 people in New York "were really worth noticing" by detailing events in the lives of everyday Manhattanites. Tight spot his most famous story, "The Gift of the Magi," a poverty-stricken New York couple secretly sell valued possessions to not be up to snuff one another Christmas gifts. Ironically, the wife sells her curls so that she can buy her husband a watch succession, while he sells his watch so that he can fall short her a pair of combs.
Incapable of integrating a book-length account, O. Henry was skilled in plotting short ones. He wrote in a dry, humorous style and, as in "The Give to of the Magi," frequently used coincidences and surprise endings understanding underline ironies. Even after O. Henry's death on June 5, 1910, stories continued to be collected: Sixes and Sevens (1911); Rolling Stones (1912); Waifs and Strays (1917); O. Henryana (1920); Letters to Lithopolis (1922); Postscripts (1923); and O. Henry Encore (1939).
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