Thom Jones (born 1945) is an American writer, primarily of short stories. His story "The Puglist at Rest" won an O. Henry award. 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is in need of attention. ... The O. Henry Awards are yearly prizes given to short stories of exceptional merit. ...

His first book was a collection of stories, also called The Pugilist at Rest. The stories deal with the common themes of mortality and pain, with characters that often find a kind of solace in the rather pessimistic philosophy of Schopenhauer. Boxing, absent or mentally ill fathers, physical trauma and the Vietnam War are also recurring motifs. The book was a National Book Award finalist. Pessimism, generally, describes a belief that things are bad, and tend to become worse; or that looks to the eventual triumph of evil over good; it contrasts with optimism, the contrary belief in the goodness and betterment of things generally. ... Philosophy (from a combination of the Greek words philos meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom), as a practice, aims at some kind of understanding, knowledge or wisdom about fundamental matters such as reality, knowledge, meaning, value, being and truth. ... Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher born in Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland. ... For other meanings of boxer, see Boxer (disambiguation). ... The Scream, the famous painting commonly thought of as depicting the experience of mental illness. ... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... In literature, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance. ... The National Book Awards are the preeminent literary awards in the United States, presented annually for the best book by a living US citizen published in the United States. ...

His other books include Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine and Cold Snap.