Robert J.C. Stead (1880-1959) in Canadian Singers and their Songs, 1919. Courtesy Internet Archive.
Robert James Campbell Stead (September 4, 1880 - June 26, 1959) was a Canadian poet, prose writer, and civil servant.[1]
Life[]
Stead was born at Middleville, Ontario. The family homesteaded at Cartwright, Manitoba in 1882.
Stead began a weekly newspaper in Cartwright in 1899, at the age of 18 years.
For a significant period, Stead worked in the immigration department of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary, where he produced "reams of rose-hued prose extolling the clean, healthy vigour of life in the open spaces — spaces opened courtesy of the CPR and available at good prices."[2]
His debut collection, The Empire Builders, and other poems, was published in 1908 and for the next 23 years, until 1931, he continued a steady flow of novels, short stories and books of verse, which enriched the portraiture of Canadian prairie life. He is best known for his 1926 novel, Grain.
Stead died in Ottawa.
Writing[]
Canadian Encyclopedia: "In his early poetry, such as The Empire Builders and Other Poems (1908), Stead mixed [the] styles of Service and Kipling to produce a virulently nationalist concept of Canada and Canadians. This strain was continued when he turned to novels in 1914, and wartime tensions seemed to exacerbate his prejudices. His postwar novels are calmer, more tolerant and less romantic than his first work, as his style shifted from Ralph Connor's romanticism towards F.P. GROVE's realism, this being most apparent in his seventh novel, Grain (1926). Although it retained some romantic elements, his fiction exemplified the tendency towards 'prairie realism' in Canadian literature."[1]
Recognition[]
The novel Dry Water, which Stead wrote in the early 1930s but for which he was unable to find a publisher (due to the Depression), was published by University of Ottawa Press in 2008.
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- The Empire Builders, and other poems. Toronto: William Briggs, 1908.
- (with introduction by William Talbot Allison). Toronto: Musson, 1923.
- Prairie Born, and other poems. Toronto: William Briggs, 1911.
- Songs of the Prairie. Toronto: William Briggs, 1911; London: Gay & Hancock, 1912; New York: Platt & Peck, 1912; Toronto: Ronald P. Frye, 2011.
- Kitchener, and other poems (introduction by William Talbot Allison). Toronto: Musson, 1917.
- Why Don't They Cheer? Poems, etc. (introduction by William Talbot Allison). London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1918.
Novels[]
- The Homesteaders: A novel of the Canadian west. Toronto: Musson, 1900; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1900.
- The Bail Jumper. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1914; Toronto: William Briggs, 1914.
- The Cow Puncher. Toronto: Musson, 1918.
- Dennison Grant: A novel of today. Toronto: Musson, 1920.
- revised as Zen of the Y.D.: A novel of the foothills. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1925.
- The Smoking Flax. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1920; Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1924.
- Neighbours. Toronto: Hodder & Stoughton, 1922.
- Grain. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1926; New York: George H. Doran, 1926.
- (with introductin by Thomas Saunders). Toronto: McClelland & Steward (New Canadian Library), 1966.
- The Copper Disc. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1931.
- Dry Water (edited by Neil Querengesser and Jean Horton). University of Ottawa Press, 2008.[3]
Non-fiction[]
- Canada's Mountain Playgrounds. Ottawa: Department of Mines and Resources, Lands, Parks and Forests Branch (National Parks Bureau), 1939.
- Playgrounds of the Prairies. Ottawa: Department of Mines and Resources, Lands, Parks and Forests Branch (National Parks Bureau), 1939.
- Canada's Maritime Playgrounds. Ottawa: Department of Mines and Resources, Lands, Parks and Forests Branch (National Parks Bureau), 1939.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[4]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Terrence Craig, Stead, Robert James Campbell, Canadian Encyclopedia (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1981), 2075. Print.
- ↑ Tony Cashman, A Picture History of Alberta (Edmonton: Hurtig], 1979), 49. Print.
- ↑ Dry Water, University of Ottawa Press. Web, Oct. 13, 2013.
- ↑ Search results = au;Robert James Campbell Stead, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 13, 2013.
External links[]
- Books
- Works by Robert J.C. Stead at Project Gutenberg
- Robert J.C. Stead at Amazon.com
- Works by or about Robert J.C. Stead in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- About
- Robert James Campbell Stead in the Canadian Encyclopedia
- "Robert Stead as a Poet," Southern Manitoba Review
- Dry Water reviewed in the Southern Manitoba Review.
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia. (view article). (view authors). |
|