James Oliver Curwood

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James Oliver Curwood (* 12. June 1878 in Owosso , Michigan , † 13 August 1927 ) was an American writer who primarily by its northern North America playing adventure novels became known.

Life and work

"Curwood Castle," the author's estate in Owosso

His first novel, The Courage of Captain Plum , was published in 1908 , having previously published numerous shorter texts. In the next few years, more novels appeared regularly, most of which were set in northern Canada or in Alaska .

Curwood had come to know the locations of his novels himself during extensive travels. With his books, many of which have also been filmed, he is one of the important representatives of the so-called “Northern”, a special variety of the adventure or wild west novel . In some of his works animals play the leading roles, in others Curwood described episodes from the lives of trappers or members of the Canadian Mounted Police - the so-called "red coats". His autobiography Son of the Forests was published posthumously in 1930 .

During the 1920s and 1930s, many of his works were also translated into German. After the Second World War , there were only a few new editions and a new translation of The Bear when Jean-Jacques Annaud 's film of the same name was released in German cinemas based on the novel by Curwood.

Curwood's 1922 house in his hometown Owosso, called " Curwood Castle ," is a historical fantasy based on the castles of the Middle Ages and now houses a museum that shows exhibits on Curwood's life and work.

Works

  • The Courage of Captain Plum , 1908
  • The Wolf Hunters , 1908
  • The Great Lakes , 1909
  • The Gold Hunters , 1909
  • The Danger Trail ( Girl in the Ice Night ), 1910
  • The Honor of the Big Snows , 1911
  • Steele of the Royal Mounted , 1911
  • The Flower of the North (dt. Flower of the North ), 1912
  • Isobel: A Romance of the Northern Trail ( Point Fullerton Police Station ), 1913
  • Kazan (Eng. Wotan, the Wolfhound ), 1914
  • God's Country and the Woman , 1915
  • The Hunted Woman (dt. The hunted woman ), 1916
  • The Grizzly King ( Eng . Tyrr, the Grisly Bear ), 1916; Filmed in 1988 as The Bear
  • Baree, Son of Kazan ( Eng.Billo, son of Wotan ), 1917
  • The Courage of Marge O'Doone , 1918
  • Nomads of the North ( Neewa, the bear child ; fight on a lonely track ), 1919
  • The River's End (dt. The gave away I ), 1919
  • Back to God's Country , 1920
  • The Valley of Silent Men , 1920
  • God's Country - The Trail to Happiness , 1921
  • The Golden Snare (dt. The golden loop ), 1921
  • The Flaming Forest (dt. The burning forest ), 1921
  • The Country Beyond (dt. Marks on electricity ), 1922
  • The Alaskan ( At the borders of the world ), 1923
  • A Gentleman of Courage (Eng. The house in the jungle ), 1924
  • The Ancient Highway ( The road of the fathers ), 1925
  • Swift Lightning , 1926
  • The Black Hunter , 1926
  • The Plains of Abraham , 1928
  • The Crippled Lady of Peribonka , 1929
  • Green Timber , 1930
  • Son of the Forests , 1930
  • Falconers of the Inland Seas , 1931

Film adaptations

Secondary literature

  • Judith A. Eldridge: James Oliver Curwood: God's Country and the Man . Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green OH 1993, ISBN 0879726040 .
  • James Kates: James Oliver Curwood: Antimodernist in the Conservation Crusade . In: Michigan Historical Review 24: 1, 1998, pp. 73-102.
  • HD Swiggett: James Oliver Curwood, Disciple of the Wilds: A Biography . Paebar Co., New York 1943.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Curwood, James Oliver
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Owosso , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH August 13, 1927
Place of death Owosso , Michigan