Wilder has a special position in the history of American literature. He is an American writer who won both the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. As a playwright, he is as famous as Eugene ONeill, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and is known as the four major modern dramatists in the United States. Wilder is the soul and pioneer of modern American drama and is known as "the last American fable in the 20th century".

The wilder family has a deep relationship with China. His father was a former US Consul General in China, and wilder studied in Yantai. Therefore, his works often show philosophical thoughts with Chinese flavor, such as cause and effect, ordinary is true and living in the present.

☆ Pioneer of modern disaster literature and film: influenced the creation of David Mitchells works including cloud picture.

☆ Perfect moral fable: the St. Louis ray bridge is not only a typical moral fable, but also a model work. Among novelists, only the moral fables of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jorge Louis Borges reach the artistic and philosophical level of the novel. (Russell banks)

☆ Eternal universal significance: in a commemorative speech shortly after 9 / 11, former British Prime Minister Blair quoted the last line of the St. Louis ray bridge as if to find some answers that are not the answer: "soon, we will all die."

For thousands of years, readers who pursue such questions have sought answers in moral fables. Its formal structure, rhetorical metaphor and stylistic conventions are combined in a natural and effective way to dramatize and answer these questions. This answer should not only be philosophically credible, but also stand up to proof in ones experience of accession to the WTO. St. Louis ray bridge is not only a typical moral fable, but also a model work. In modern society, it is more often Poets (rather than Novelists) who choose this form. Among novelists, only the moral fables written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Jorge Louis Borges reach the artistic and philosophical level of the novel.

Anancient bridge collapses over a gorge in Peru, hurling five people into thss. It seems a meaningless human tragedy. But one witness, a Franciscanmonk, believes the deaths might not be as random as they appear. Convinced thatthe disaster is a punishment sent from Heaven, the monk sets out to discoverall he can about the travellers. The five strangers were connected in some way,he thinks. There must be a purpose behind their deaths. But are their lostlives the result of sin? ... Or of love?