Robert James Campbell Stead (4 September 1880 – 25 June 1959) was a Canadian novelist.
Stead was born at
Middleville, Ontario. The family homesteaded at
Cartwright, Manitoba
Cartwright is an unincorporated urban community in the Cartwright – Roblin Municipality within the Canadian province of Manitoba that held village status prior to January 1, 2015. It was originally incorporated as a village on December 31, 194 ...
in 1882. He began a weekly newspaper in Cartwright in 1899, at the age of 18 years. His first book, ''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. As described by Terrence Craig, "In his early poetry, such as ''The Empire Builders and Other Poems'' (1908), Stead mixed with styles of
Service
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Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
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and
Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
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...".
For a significant period, Stead worked in the immigration department of the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
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. On his own time, he writes in the same vein...", and became one of Canada's best-known authors.
[Tony Cashman, ''A Picture History of Alberta'' ( Hurtig Publishers, 1979), p. 49.]
Stead is best known for his novel ''Grain'' (1926). The novel ''Dry Water'', which he wrote in the early 1930s but was unable to find a publisher for, due to the Depression of the times, was published by University of Ottawa Press in 2008.
Stead died in
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
.
Works
* ''The Empire Builders And Other Poems'', (1908)
* ''Prairie Born And Other Poems'', (1911)
* ''Songs Of The Prairie'', (1911)
* ''The Bail Jumper'', (1914)
* ''The Homesteaders: A Novel Of The Canadian West'', (1916)
* ''Kitchener And Other Poems'', (1917)
* ''The Cow Puncher'', (1918)
* ''Why Don't They Cheer?'', (1918)
* ''Dennison Grant: A Novel Of To-day'', (1920)
* ''Neighbours'', (1922)
* ''The Smoking Flax'', (1924)
* ''Zen Of The YD'', (1925)
* ''Grain'', (1926)
* ''The Copper Disc'', (1931)
* ''Words'', (1945)
* ''The Maple's Praise Of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1882-1945'', (1945)
* ''Dry Water: A Novel Of Western Canada''
dited by Prem VARMA(1983)
Source:
References
External links
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1880 births
1957 deaths
Canadian male novelists
People from Pembina Valley Region, Manitoba
20th-century Canadian novelists
20th-century Canadian male writers
Novelists from Manitoba
Novelists from Ontario
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