A short life of the author
Thomas Tryon (1926–1991) was born on 14 January 1926 in Hartford, Connecticut. He studied at Yale and had a career as a Hollywood actor before the critical and commercial success of The Other allowed him to leave acting.
Life and Career
The Other (1971) — about twin boys in a 1930s Connecticut farm community, one of whom may be dead — is a masterpiece of psychological horror. Its twist ending, now famous, was shocking in 1971. Tryon directed the 1972 film adaptation himself.
Harvest Home (1973) — about a New York couple who move to a picturesque New England village and discover that the community practises ancient, blood-soaked agricultural rituals — is an equally accomplished novel that anticipates the folk-horror revival by decades.
Major Works and Themes
Tryon wrote about the darkness beneath idyllic American surfaces — pastoral New England communities harbouring terrible secrets. His prose is polished and his pacing masterful.
Key Works
- The Other (1971)
- Harvest Home (1973)
Collecting Tryon
The Other (1971, Alfred A. Knopf) brings $30–$100. Harvest Home (1973, Knopf) brings $20–$80. Tryon died in 1991.