Why did Olivier Henry change his pen name to O Henry?
He used a pseudonym, Olivier Henry, only once and changed his pen name to O. Henry, not wanting his readers to know he was in jail. He published 12 stories while in prison. After serving 3 years of the five-year sentence, he was released for good behavior.
What does O Henry mean in O Henry?
According to another explanation, the "O" stands for "Olivier," the French version of "Oliver" (though why he chose "Olivier" he doesn't say). ( Source) O. Henry was a convicted criminal and a one-time fugitive. Who was O Henry's second wife?
What happened to O Henry in his life?
In his lifetime O. Henry was able to see the silent film adaptations of his stories; The Sacrifice (1909), Trying to Get Arrested (1909) and His Duty (1909). His success brought the attendant pressure, and he suffered from alcohol addiction. His second marriage lasted 2 years, and his wife left him in 1909.
What is O Henry's real name?
Trivia (10) Though many sources indicate O. Henry's real name as "William Sydney Porter", his middle name at birth was actually Sidney with an "i". He changed the spelling of his middle name to "Sydney" when he began working for newspapers in the 1880s. Porter is said to have derived the pen-name O.
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Why did O. Henry chose that name?
The Pen Name: O'Henry And to pick out a good name, he got a newspaper and picked names from the first list of names he thought were good. His eyes stuck on the name, Henry. He wanted a brief first name and he thought O was the easiest letter written which he said stood for Olivier.
What was O. Henry's real name and why did he change it?
Henry was born William Sidney Porter. He later changed the spelling of his middle name to “Sydney” and subsequently adopted “O. Henry” as his pen name.
Is it O. Henry or O. Henry?
O. Henry was an American writer whose short stories are known for wit, wordplay and clever twist endings. He wrote nearly 600 stories about life in America. He was born William Sidney Porter on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
What was O. Henry's real name?
William Sydney PorterO. Henry / Full nameWilliam Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was born on a plantation in Greensboro, North Carolina on September 11, 1862.
What does the O in O. Henry stand for?
I replied, "O stands for Olivier, the French for Oliver." And several of my stories accordingly appeared in that paper under the name Olivier Henry.
Why is it called The Gift of the Magi?
According to the story, the magi were wise folks. The gifts the magi gave to Jesus must have been wise too (as the narrator of "The Gift of the Magi" suggests at the end of the story). These gifts must have been the smartest, best gifts anyone could have chosen.
Where does O. Henry come from?
Greensboro, NCO. Henry / Place of birth
How do you write like O. Henry?
His writing is vivid and he is good at using irony, paronomasia, metaphor, metonymy and exaggeration to make the story full of fun. He is a master of surprising endings, and he usually design story plots dramatically, and makes some unexpected changes at the end, which is quite out of readers' expectations.
What grade level is The Gift of the Magi?
The Gift of the MagiInterest LevelReading LevelATOSGrades 5 - 9Grades 4 - 86.2Oct 17, 2017
What was the name of his unsuccessful humor magazine?
Henry founded an unsuccessful humor magazine called "Rolling Stone," and was sentenced to prison for embezzlement, while living in which state capital?
Who was O. Henry Austin?
William Sydney PorterHenry Museum is the former Austin residence of William Sydney Porter, otherwise known as O. Henry, the famed short story writer who authored such classics as The Gift of the Magi, The Ransom of Red Chief, and The Last Leaf.
Overview
William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer.
Porter was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He moved to Texas in 1882, where he met his wife, Athol Estes, with whom he had two children. In 1902, after the death of his wife, Porter moved to New York, where he soon remarried…
Biography
William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina, during the American Civil War. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after g…
Stories
O. Henry's stories frequently have surprise endings. In his day he was called the American answer to Guy de Maupassant. While both authors wrote plot twist endings, O. Henry's stories were considerably more playful, and are also known for their witty narration.
Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th century. Man…
Pen name
Porter used a number of pen names (including "O. Henry" or "Olivier Henry") in the early part of his writing career; other names included S.H. Peters, James L. Bliss, T.B. Dowd, and Howard Clark. Nevertheless, the name "O. Henry" seemed to garner the most attention from editors and the public, and was used exclusively by Porter for his writing by about 1902. He gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909, he gave an interview to The New York Time…
Legacy
The O. Henry Award is a prestigious annual prize named after Porter and given to outstanding short stories.
A film was made in 1952 featuring five stories, called O. Henry's Full House. The episode garnering the most critical acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem" starring Charles Laughton and Marilyn Monroe. The other stories are "The Clarion Call" starring Richard Widmark, "The Last Leaf", "The …
Bibliography
Collections:
• Cabbages and Kings (1904), novel consisting of linked stories. Collection of 19 short stories:
• The Four Million (1906), collection of 25 short stories:
• The Trimmed Lamp (1907), collection of 25 short stories:
Further reading
• Smith, C. Alphonso (November 1916). "The Strange Case of Sydney Porter and 'O. Henry'". The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XXXIII (1): 54–64. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
External links
• Works by O. Henry in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
• Works by O. Henry at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about O. Henry at Internet Archive
• Works by O. Henry at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)