William Sydney Porter

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William Sydney Porter

• (1862-1910)

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O Henry
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Facts on William Sydney Porter

• He was born September 11, 1862 in North Carolina,
  where he spent his childhood.
• Best noted for his short stories with surprise
  endings, O. Henry was the pen name of William
  Sydney Porter, who was regarded as one of the
  most popular American writers.

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• O. Henry was an American writer in the late 19th
  century. His real name was William Sidney Porter
  and O. Henry was his pen name. He wrote many
  short stories, which were set in New York.

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• The plots of his stories are clever and
  interesting, and the end is always surprising.
  Most of the characters in his stories are
  ordinary people in cities. His works include The
  Four Million, The Gift of the Magi, The Furnished
  Room and so on.

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Facts on William Sydney Porter

• As a young man, he once worked as a bank teller,
  a newspaper columnist and so on. In 1898, he was
  accused of having taken money from the bank where
  he had worked, and later was put in prison for
  five years. While in prison, he began writing
  short stories and it is there that he took the
  pen-name O Henry for his writings.

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• A sacrifice for love is part of the story The
  Gift of the Magi which took O. Henry only three
  hours but is popular for a whole century or more.
  O. Henrys stories are known for his
  descriptions of poor working characters, a
  humorous and ironic tone, realistic detail and a
  surprise
• ending.

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• What main elements there should be in a story /
  narrative ?

Characters Time Place Event Ending
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Facts on William Sydney Porter

• An acclaimed master of short stories and tales.
• Starting in 1895 he wrote a column for the
  Houston Daily Post.
• In early 1898 Porter was found guilty of
  embezzlement charges and sentenced to five years
  in an Ohio prison.
• Three years and about a dozen short stories
  later, he emerged from prison as "O. Henry" to
  help shield his true identity.

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Facts on William Sydney Porter

• O. Henry wrote with realistic detail based on his
  first-hand experiences both in Texas and in New
  York City.
• In 1907, he published many of his Texas stories
  in The Heart of the West.
• He moved to New York City, where over the next
  ten years before his death in 1910, he published
  over 300 stories and gained worldwide acclaim as
  America's favorite short story writer.
• Porter died on June 5, 1910 in New York City at
  the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died
  virtually penniless.

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Published Books by O. Henry

• After Twenty Years Other Stories. Edited by
  Masat C. Nakauchi. Tokyo Kenkyusha, 1957.
• The Best of O. Henry. Philadelphia Running
  Press, 1978.

• Cabbages and Kings. New York McClure, Phillips
  Co., 1904.
• The Four Million. New York McClure, Phillips
  Co., 1906.
• The Gift of the Magi. Garden City, N.Y.
  Doubleday, Page Co., 1922.

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Published Books by O. Henry

• Let Me Feel Your Pulse. New York Doubleday, Page
  Co., 1910.
• Options. New York Harper Brothers, 1909.
• Postscripts. New York Harper Brothers, 1923.

• Tales of O. Henry. Garden City, N.Y.
  International Collectors Library, 1969.
• The Trimmed Lamp, and Other Stories. New York
  McClure, Phillips Co., 1907.
• The Voice of the City. New York McClure, 1908.

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O. Henry

• Besides descriptions what techniques does a good
  writer usually use in a narrative?

Literature way of writing
Exaggeration Humor Irony
Can you find out some of the techniques O. Henry
use?
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Facts on William Sydney Porter

• He was born September 11, 1862 in North Carolina,
  where he spent his childhood.
• An acclaimed master of short stories and tales.
• Starting in 1895 he wrote a column for the
  Houston Daily Post.
• In early 1898 Porter was found guilty of
  embezzlement charges and sentenced to five years
  in an Ohio prison.
• Three years and about a dozen short stories
  later, he emerged from prison as "O. Henry" to
  help shield his true identity.

15
Facts on William Sydney Porter

• O. Henry wrote with realistic detail based on his
  first-hand experiences both in Texas and in New
  York City.
• In 1907, he published many of his Texas stories
  in The Heart of the West.
• He moved to New York City, where over the next
  ten years before his death in 1910, he published
  over 300 stories and gained worldwide acclaim as
  America's favorite short story writer.
• Porter died on June 5, 1910 in New York City at
  the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died
  virtually penniless.

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Published Books by O. Henry

• After Twenty Years Other Stories. Edited by
  Masat C. Nakauchi. Tokyo Kenkyusha, 1957.
• The Best of O. Henry. Philadelphia Running
  Press, 1978.

• Cabbages and Kings. New York McClure, Phillips
  Co., 1904.
• The Four Million. New York McClure, Phillips
  Co., 1906.
• The Gift of the Magi. Garden City, N.Y.
  Doubleday, Page Co., 1922.

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Published Books by O. Henry

• Let Me Feel Your Pulse. New York Doubleday, Page
  Co., 1910.
• Options. New York Harper Brothers, 1909.
• Postscripts. New York Harper Brothers, 1923.

• Tales of O. Henry. Garden City, N.Y.
  International Collectors Library, 1969.
• The Trimmed Lamp, and Other Stories. New York
  McClure, Phillips Co., 1907.
• The Voice of the City. New York McClure, 1908.

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OHENRY MUSEUM
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Museum Hours1200 noon - 500 p.m. Wednesday -
SundayClosed Monday and Tuesday409 East Fifth
StreetAustin, Texas 78701(512)472-1903
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Critic says

• 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 stories 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.

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• "He wrote love stories, a thing I have always
  kept free 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')

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Literary Terms for focus

• Short Story
• Style

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What is a Short Story?

• The short story is a form of short fictional
  narrative prose. Short stories tend to be more
  concise and to the point than longer works of
  fiction, such as novels. Because of their short
  length, successful short stories also rely even
  more than longer fictional forms on such literary
  devices as character, plot, theme, language, and
  insight.

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STYLE

• style
• 1. The way in which something is said, done,
  expressed, or performed a style of speech and
  writing.
• 2. The combination of distinctive features of
  literary or artistic expression, execution, or
  performance characterizing a particular person,
  group, school, or era.
• 3. Sort type a style of furniture.
• 4. A quality of imagination and individuality
  expressed in one's actions and tastes does
  things with style.

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Discussion

• Describe if you were surprised by the ending of
  the story.
• Do you agree with the critics?