O. Henry fled to Honduras in Central. America and stayed there for six months
before returning to the U.S.. In early 1898 Porter was found guilty of.
Essential Questions: (1) How does the author’s
perspective and mood shape the reader’s own perspective and mood? (2) How can learning about an author’s life affect how we respond to their writing?
William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) Click Here O. Henry Website
William Sydney Porter He was born William Sydney Porter on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he spent his childhood. As a young adult, he moved to Austin, Texas and began working as a bank teller. In 1895 he moved to Houston, TX and wrote a column for the Houston Daily Post. In 1896 he was called back to Austin, where he was charged with embezzling money from the bank where he had worked.
◦ embezzling is stealing someone’s money that they have trusted you with
Not wanting to go to prison for his crime, O. Henry fled to Honduras in Central America and stayed there for six months before returning to the U.S. In early 1898 Porter was found guilty of embezzlement charges and sentenced to five years in an Ohio prison. He served three years, and while in prison changed his name to O. Henry.
O. Henry He moved to New York City, where over the next ten years he published over 300 stories and gained worldwide acclaim as America's favorite short story writer. O’Henry died on June 5, 1910 in New York City at the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died virtually penniless.
Why the name “O. Henry?”
I said to a friend: "I'm going to send out some stuff. I don't know if it amounts to much, so I want to get a literary alias. Help me pick out a good one." He suggested that we get a newspaper and pick a name from the first list of notables that we found in it. In the society columns we found the account of a fashionable ball. "Here we have our notables," said he. We looked down the list and my eye lighted on the name Henry, "That'll do for a last name," said I. "Now for a first name. I want something short. None of your three-syllable names for me." "Why don’t you use a plain initial letter, then?" asked my friend. "Good," said I, "O is about the easiest letter written, and O it is."
3-2-1 DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE Name
THREE facts about O. Henry. (One has been done for you). ◦ 1. O. Henry’s stories were often ironic and had unusual twists in the end. ◦ 2. ◦ 3.
2-1 DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE
3-
Classify
O. Henry’s writing into TWO categories/genres. ◦ 1. ◦ 2.
1 DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE
3-2-
Answer the following ONE question: ◦ How can learning about an author’s life affect how we respond to their writing?
Why would he have fled all the way to Honduras?
What is a literary alias?
