Wright Morris

Wright Marion Morris (January 6, 1910 – April 25, 1998) was an American novelist, photographer, and essayist. He is known for his portrayals of the people and artifacts of the Great Plains in words and pictures, as well as for experimenting with narrative forms.

Morris was born in Central City, Nebraska; his boyhood home is on the National Register of Historic Places. His mother, Grace Osborn Morris, died six days after he was born. His father, William Henry Morris, worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. After Grace's death, Wright was cared for by a nanny, until his father made a trip to Omaha and returned with a young wife, Gertrude. In Will's Boy, Morris states, "Gertrude was closer to my age than to my father's". Gertrude hated small-town life, but got along famously with Wright, as they shared many of the same childish tastes (both loved games, movies, and ice cream). In 1919, the family moved to Omaha, where they resided until 1924.

During that interlude, Morris spent two summers on his uncle's farm near Norfolk, Nebraska. Photographs of the farm, as well as the real-life characters of Uncle Harry and Aunt Clara, appear in Morris's books.

Morris moved to Chicago in 1924. Later that year, he accompanied his father on a road trip to the west coast that formed the basis for his first novel, My Uncle Dudley. He also lived briefly with his uncle in Texas before enrolling in Pacific Union College in California. He graduated from Pomona College in 1933. He married Mary Ellen Finfrock in 1934; the couple divorced in 1959. He later married Josephine Mary Kantor.

Following college, Morris traveled through Europe on a "wanderjahr," which he later fictionalized in Cause for Wonder.

From 1944 to 1954, Morris lived in Philadelphia. From 1954 to 1962, he divided his time between California and Mexico. In 1963, he accepted a teaching position at San Francisco State College. He retired from teaching in 1975.

Morris won the National Book Award for The Field of Vision in 1956. In 1981, he won the award a second time for his final novel, Plains Song.

Morris developed close friendships with several other American authors, most notably John O'Hara and Thornton Wilder, and was a pall bearer at O'Hara's funeral in 1970. He also conducted a weekly correspondence with Scottish author Muriel Spark from 1962 until his death.

Morris died of esophageal cancer in Mill Valley, California in 1998. He is buried in the Chapman Cemetery.