William Sydney Porter
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Who Was William Sydney Porter?
William Sydney Porter, writing as O. Henry, was an American short story writer. He wrote in a dry, humorous style and, as in his popular story "The Gift of the Magi," often ironically used coincidences and surprise endings. After he was released from prison in , Porter went to New York, his home and the setting of most of his fiction for the remainder of his life. Writing prodigiously, he went on to become a revered American writer.
Early Life
Born William Sydney Porter, on September 11, , 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 an uncle's drugstore. At the age of 20, Porter went to Texas, working first on a ranch and later as a bank teller. In , he married Athol Estes and began to write freelance sketches. A few years later he founded a humorous weekly, The Rolling Stone. When the publication failed, he became a reporter and columnist on the Houston Post.
O. Henry Short Stories and Books
Indicted in for embezzling bank funds (actually a resul
O Henry
O Henry ( &#; ) was an American short story author whose real name was William Sydney Porter. Henry&#;s rich canon of work reflected his wide-range of experiences and is distinctive for its witticism, clever wordplay, and unexpected twist endings.
Like many other writers, O. Henry&#;s early career aspirations were unfocused and he wandered across different activities and professions before he finally found his calling as a short story writer. He started working in his uncle&#;s drugstore in and became a licensed pharmacist by the age of His first creative expressions came while working in the pharmacy where he would sketch the townspeople that frequented the store. The customers reacted warmly to his drawings and he was admired for his artistry and drawing skills.
O. Henry moved to Texas in March of hoping to get rid of a persistent cough that he had developed. While there, he took up residence on a sheep ranch, learned shepherding, cooking, babysitting, and bits of Spanish and German from the many migrant farmhands. He had an active social life in Austin and was a fine musician, skilled with the guitar and mandolin. Over the next several years, Porter &#; as he was
O. Henry Biography
A Short biography of O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)
O. HENRY (), an American short-story writer, was born at Greensboro, N.C., on Sept. 11, His real name was William Sydney Porter, and he came from an old southern family.
Education: Until 15 years of age he attended a school directed by his maternal aunt in Greensboro, then entered his uncle&#;s drugstore as a clerk. From early years he was a constant reader, and he secured a wide knowledge of the English classics. He has recorded that his favourite books were Lane&#;s translation of The ArabianNights and Burton&#;s Anatomy of Melancholy, and that he was a devoted admirer of Tennyson.
Employment: The close confinement as drug-clerk impaired his health, and in he was sent to a friend&#;s ranch in Texas, where he remained two years. In he went to Austin, Tex., where he lived ten years, first as a book-keeper in a real estate office, then as an employee in the General Land Office and from as teller in the First National Bank of Austin. In he purchased Brann&#;s Iconoclast, a weekly, which after a short time he renamed The Rolling Stone. This paper he converted into a ten-page weekly, he
O. Henry
The American short-story writer William Sydney Porter (), who wrote under the pseudonym O. Henry, pioneered in picturing the lives of lower-class and middle-class New Yorkers.
William Sydney Porter was born in Greensboro, N.C., on Sept. 11, He attended school for a short time, then clerked in an uncle's drugstore. At the age of 20 he went to Texas, working first on a ranch and later as a bank teller. In he married and began to write free-lance sketches. A few years later he founded a humorous weekly, the Rolling Stone. When this failed, he became a reporter and columnist on the Houston Post.
Indicted in for embezzling bank funds (actually a result of technical mismanagement), Porter fled to 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 he was imprisoned in Columbus, Ohio. During his 3-year incarceration, he wrote adventure stories set in Texas and Central America that quickly became popular and were collected in Cabbages and Kings ().
Released from prison in , Porter went to New York City, his home and the setting of most of his fiction for the remainder of his
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