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Douglas Durkin

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Douglas Leader Durkin (July 9, 1884 - June 4, 1967) was a Canadian poet, novelist, and short story writer.[1]

Douglas Leader Durkin in , 1919. Courtesy Internet Archive.

Douglas Leader Durkin in Canadian Singers and their Songs, 1919. Courtesy Internet Archive.

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Durkin was born in Parry Sound, Ontario.[1] He moved with his family to Swan River, Manitoba, during his youth.

He earned a B.A. in English and philosophy from the University of Manitoba (UM) in 1908.[2]

Career[]

Durkin worked as a professor of English literature at Brandon College and UM between 1911 and 1921, when he moved to New York, leaving behind his wife and children. He taught creative writing briefly at Columbia University and UM before turning to a full-time writing career with fellow-novelist Martha Ostenso.

Durkin and Osteno met at UM, where she was his student. Ostenso followed him to New York in 1923 and they lived together in New York and, after 1931, in Gull Lake, Minnesota.

Durkin and Ostenso married in 1945, after his 1st wife's death. Ostenso died in 1963, and Durkin moved to Seattle, Washington.[2]

Durkin died in Seattle in 1967.

Writing[]

Durkin is best known for his 1923 novel The Magpie, set during the Winnipeg General Strike and dealing with issues of worker's rights. It is considered a valuable contribution to the emergence of realism in Canada, particularly prairie realism.[3]

Durkin contributed significantly to Ostenso's debut novel, Wild Geese (1925), a fact that was kept secret because Wild Geese won the 1925 Dodd, Mead and Company Best Novel of the Year Award, which could only be awarded to 1st-time novelists.[4]

In 1958, at the end of their writing careers, Ostenso and Durkin signed a legal agreement stating retroactively that every novel published under the name "Martha Ostenso" had in fact been collaboratively written by Ostenso and Durkin.[5] This may account for why Durkin published only one novel after The Magpie, the darkly humorous Mr. Gumble Sits Up (1930). Durkin did continue to publish short stories under his own name as well as under the pseudonym "Conrad North," a nickname apparently given to him by Ostenso.[6]

Publications[]

Fightingmenofcanada

Poetry[]

Novels[]

  • The Heart of Cherry McBain: A novel. Toronto: Musson, 1919.
  • The Lobstick Trail. Toronto: Musson, 1921.
  • The Magpie. Toronto: Hodder & Stoughton, 1923.
  • Mr. Gumble Sits Up. New York: Liveright, 1930.[7]
with Martha Ostenso [8]
  • Wild Geese. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1925; Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1925.
  • The Dark Dawn. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1926.
  • The Mad Carews. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1927.
  • The Young May Moon. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929.
  • The Waters under the Earth. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1930.
  • Prologue to Love. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1931.
  • There's Always Another Year. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1933.
  • The White Reef. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1934.
  • The Stone Field. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1937.
  • The Mandrake Root. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1938.
  • Love Passed This Way. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1942.
  • And They Shall Walk. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1943.
  • O River, Remember! New York: Dodd, Mead, 1943.
  • Milk Route. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1948.
  • The Sunset Tree. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1949.
  • A Man Had Tall Sons. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1958.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[9]

See also[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 John F. Barlow, Douglas Durkin, Internet Movie Database. Web, July 20, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Douglas Durkin, Canadian Books & Authors. Web, Apr. 5, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Douglas Leader Durkin Biography - (1884–1968), Wild geese, The magpie, The heart of Cherry McBain - Manitoba, War, Novels, University, Ostenso, and Published - JRank Articles". Jrank.org. http://www.jrank.org/literature/pages/7753/Douglas-Leader-Durkin.html. Retrieved 2011-10-08. 
  4. ↑ Peter E. Rider. Introduction. The Magpie. By Douglas Durkin. Toronto: U Toronto P, 1974. vi-xxi
  5. ↑ Martha Ostenso Durkin and Douglas Leader Durkin. Agreement. 11 February 1958. Dodd, Mead and Company fonds, First Accrual Box 1, F.22. The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections, McMaster University, Hamilton ON.
  6. ↑ Ostenso, Barney. Interview with David Arnason & Joy Kuropatwa. 16 August 1977. David Arnason fonds. Mss. Sc. 171. Archives & Special Collections, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg MB.
  7. ↑ Brian Busby, Dead Man Sitting, The Dusty Bookcase, January 2, 2012. Blogspot, Web, July 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ Bibliographical information in this section courtesy Athabasca University]: Bibliography of Works by Martha Ostenso, English-Canadian Writers, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Athabasca University, Web, July 2, 2012.
  9. ↑ Search results = au:Douglas Leader Durkin, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 12, 2013.

External links[]

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