Kenneth Roberts (Author)

Kenneth Lewis Roberts (born December 8, 1885 in Kennebunkport , Maine, † July 21, 1957 ) was an American writer and journalist.

Life

Roberts grew up in Maine , where his family had been based since 1639. After completing his studies at Cornell University in 1908 , he first worked as a journalist, primarily for the Boston Post . During the First World War and the Russian Civil War , he served as a lieutenant in the intelligence service of the American army and took part in the American Siberia campaign in 1919 . He then was a correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post in Europe and Washington, DC

From the beginning of the 1920s, Roberts published books, initially non-fiction and travel books. In 1928 he resigned from the Saturday Evening Post to become a freelance writer . The focus of his writing activities were historical novels about his homeland in northern New England. His early work was excellently researched, but received little public attention. Still, his work is March to Quebec; Journals of the Members of Arnold's Expedition (published 1940), which he compiled and commented on while working on Arundel , an excellent history source for the event.

In 1934 Dartmouth College awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 1935 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters . He achieved his breakthrough in 1937 with his novel Northwest Passage , which became a bestseller . The film Nordwest-Passage was made based on this work . The following year, both Middlebury College and Bowdoin College awarded him honorary degrees.

In the last two decades of his life, in addition to his novels, Roberts was mainly concerned with dowsing , the effectiveness of which he considered to be proven in the detection of water veins. In 1957 he was honored with a special Pulitzer Prize for popularizing early American history. His estate is kept at Dartmouth College.

Services

Robert's historical novels are based on his connection with his New England homeland and its landscape, but do not remain stuck in this framework. For example, in his main work, Northwest Passage, the first-person narrator , Langdon Towne, is a young artist from Portsmouth, New Hampshire , around 1760 , and his (and his companions) struggle for survival takes place in the then impenetrable forests of Vermont . But the novel also paints a vivid picture of the life of the Indians and soldiers on the borders of the then (the whites) known part of North America to the lower reaches of the Missouri , as well as of the splendor and misery of the city of London at that time.

Works

• Arundel . 1930.
  German: Arundel , Vol. 1: Colonel Arnold's secret campaign against Quebeck . 1936.
• The Lively Lady . 1931.
  German: The green lady . 1938. New edition under the title: The lively Lady . 1952.
• Rabble in Arms . 1933. (Continuation of Arundel )
  German: Arundel , Vol. 2: People in arms . 1936.
• Captain Caution . 1934.
  German: Captain Marvin . 1950.
• Northwest Passage . 1937.
  German: Northwest Passage . 1938.
• Oliver Wiswell . 1940.
  Dt. 1941.
• Lydia Bailey . 1947.
  Dt. 1948; New edition under the title: Black Drums in Haiti . 1958.
• I wanted to write . Doubleday, Garden City 1949.
• Boon Island . 1956.
  German: The island of grace . 1960.

Film adaptations

• 1940: Northwest Passage ( Northwest Passage )
• 1940: Assault on the Olive Branch ( Captain caution )
• 1952: Black Drums ( Lydia Bailey )
• 1958: The Snake River Trap ( Fury River )
• 1958: Daredevil forwards ( Frontier Rangers ) based on the novel North-West-Passage
• 1959: Enemy behind ( Mission of Danger )

Web links

• Literature by and about Kenneth Roberts in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Members: Kenneth L. Roberts. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 22, 2019 .