Robert James Collas Lowry (March 28, 1919 – December 5, 1994) was an American novelist, short story writer, illustrator, and independent press publisher. Lowry was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a literary wunderkind who began writing at the age of 8; within a year, he had stories published in the ''Cincinnati Times Star''. He graduated from

Withrow High School Withrow High School (originally East Side High School) is a public high school located on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Cincinnati Public Schools. History The school opened in 1919 and was listed on the Nat ...

in 1937, after which he entered the University of Cincinnati. He was, according to biographer James Reide, a voracious reader of the literary works of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and exces ...

, and

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and s ...

The Little Man Press

In 1938, while enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, Lowry served as editor for a university-sponsored chapbook titled ''The Little Man'' (whose credits claim it "was established in the Fall of 1937 by some students," but the contents were copyrighted under Lowry's name).

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

contributed the lead essay "A Word on Reading and Writing." The same year, with illustrator James Flora, a student at the

Art Academy of Cincinnati The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the University of Cincinnati, and later in 1887, became the Art Academy ...

, Lowry founded The Little Man Press. The partners published dozens of

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

s under the Little Man imprint from 1939 to 1942. Lowry wrote many titles (some under such pseudonyms as James Caldwell), but the Little Man imprint published essays and fiction by Saroyan,

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

Jesse Stuart Jesse Hilton Stuart (August 8, 1906 – February 17, 1984) was an American writer, school teacher, and school administrator who is known for his short stories, poetry, and novels as well as non-fiction autobiographical works set in central Appa ...

Charles Henri Ford Charles Henri Ford (February 10, 1908 – September 27, 2002) was an American poet, novelist, diarist, filmmaker, photographer, and collage artist. He published more than a dozen collections of poetry, exhibited his artwork in Europe and the Uni ...

, William Edward March Campbell, and others. After Flora accepted a job offer from

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in 1942 and moved to Connecticut, Lowry continued to sporadically publish titles under a succession of revived Little Man imprints.

Writing career

In 1942 Lowry was drafted, and served three years in the US military during World War II, during which he saw combat in North Africa and Italy. After his discharge, he divorced his first wife, wrote critically acclaimed fiction (his fans included

), and wrote an autobiographical novel (''The Big Cage''). Lowry was hired by

James Laughlin James Laughlin (October 30, 1914 – November 12, 1997) was an American poet and literary book publisher who founded New Directions Publishing. Early life He was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Henry Hughart and Marjory Rea Laughlin. Laughlin ...

as office manager at

New Directions Publishing New Directions Publishing Corp. is an independent book publishing company that was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin (1914–1997) and incorporated in 1964. Its offices are located at 80 Eighth Avenue in New York City. History New Directions ...

in September 1945. Leaving in Fall 1946 to concentrate on writing full-time, Lowry came under the influence of the editor George Davis, and for a time, flourished as a rising new voice in American fiction. His books and short stories in the late 1940s and 1950s recounted his wartime experiences. He also wrote about life in New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

during the emergence of the

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti- materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms ...

scene. His published works included ''Casualty'' (1946), ''Find Me in Fire'' (1948; cover teaser: "She Was Young But Ripe for Love"), and ''The Violent Wedding'' (1953). His short stories appeared in ''Mademoiselle'', ''New Directions'', ''Collier's'', ''Horizon'', ''The American Mercury'', and other periodicals. His short fiction was collected in three volumes: ''The Wolf That Fed Us'' (

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

, 1949), ''Happy New Year, Kamerades!'' (

, 1954), and ''Party of Dreamers'' (Fleet Publishing Corp., 1962). During the 1950s, Lowry wrote book reviews for ''Time'' magazine and the ''

Saturday Review of Literature ''Saturday Review'', previously ''The Saturday Review of Literature'', was an American weekly magazine established in 1924. Norman Cousins was the editor from 1940 to 1971. Under Cousins, it was described as "a compendium of reportage, essays a ...

''. In 1950, he won the O. Henry Award for his short story "Be Nice to Mr. Campbell." His story "Layover in El Paso" was adapted for a 1959 feature film titled '' That Kind of Woman'', directed by

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...

and starring

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

. Lowry also wrote screenplays for TV series such as

Schlitz Playhouse ''Schlitz Playhouse of Stars'' is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to ''Schlitz Playh ...

, G.E. True Theater, Starlight Theater, and

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method actin ...

. Lowry had two short stories published in ''Mademoiselle'' that were illustrated by James Flora, his former Little Man Press partner: "Little Baseball World" (September 1946) and "The Mammoth Molar" (September 1951).

Visuals arts/design

Lowry was also a visual artist. He illustrated the covers of some of his independently published works, and the title page of each story in ''Happy New Year, Kamerades'', was adorned with a minimalist brush-and-ink illustration by the author. While employed at New Directions, Lowry designed book jackets for titles by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

, James T. Farrell,

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915December 10, 1968), religious name M. Louis, was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, Christian mysticism, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. He was a monk in the Trapp ...

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Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, so ...

, and others. According to Lowry researcher Robert Nedelkoff, "James Laughlin said he'd always loved the Little Man books and said he thought that Lowry may have had greater promise as a book designer than as a writer. He thought Lowry had peaked with ''Casualty'' and the other books were downhill."

Psychological profile

Lowry had dark impulses, which were exacerbated by liquor. "In Cincinnati," recalled Flora, "he would take one drink and go berserk, throwing himself on the floor, saying 'I'm a rug! I'm a rug! Step on me!'" In 1952, following a second marriage and the birth of a son, Beirne, Lowry was diagnosed as a

schizophrenic Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

and forced to undergo electric shock therapy. He spent the rest of his life passing in and out of "insane asylums" (his preferred term), squalid hotels, and turbulent relationships with women (including two more marriages). In the 1960s, he fostered an association with

George Lincoln Rockwell George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American neo-Nazi activist who founded the American Nazi Party (ANP) and became one of the most notorious white supremacists in the United States until his murder in 1967. His b ...

, founder of the

American Nazi Party The American Nazi Party (ANP) is an American neo-Nazi Political parties in the United States, political party founded by George Lincoln Rockwell in 1959. In Rockwell's time, it was headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It was renamed the Natio ...

, which alienated many of his friends and supporters.Robert Lowry
at the Free Library He continued writing, but because of his volatile and unpredictable personality, reputable publishers declined to publish his manuscripts. During the final decades of his life, Lowry, often destitute, self-published many additional works. He died in Cincinnati, age 75, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Cincinnati. At the time of his death, all his commercially published books were out of print.

Selected works

Novels

* ''Casualty'' (1946) * ''Find Me in Fire'' (1948) * ''The Big Cage'' (1949) * ''The Violent Wedding'' (1953) * ''What's Left of April'' (1956) * ''The Prince of Pride Starring'' (1959) * ''That Kind of Woman'' (1959)

Short story collections

* ''The Wolf That Fed Us'' (1949) * ''Happy New Year, Kamerades!'' (1954) aka ''This Is My Night'' * ''The Last Party'' (1956) * ''New York Call Girl'' (1958) * ''Party of Dreamers'' (1962)

Original Works by Lowry online

*Text o
The Knife
Lowry's self-published 1959 novella, with intro by Jim Reidel.

Academic Collections

at University of Southern California Library

at Kent State University

References

External links

Maddening Genius
article, Cincinnati CityBeat, December 3, 2003 *

New York Times, December 23, 1994
Biographical article
in Review of Contemporary Fiction by James Reidel

of Lowry's autobiographical novel, ''The Big Cage''

chronicle and artwork at JimFlora.com
Lowry literary works
at Open Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowry, Robert 1919 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American novelists American child writers American male novelists Child journalists Writers from Cincinnati 20th-century American illustrators American literary critics American publishers (people) American male short story writers Beat Generation writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Ohio 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers