Robert W. Service
Robert William Service (born January 16, 1874 in Preston , England , † September 11, 1958 in Lancieux , France ) was a Canadian poet and novelist.
life and work
Robert W. Service was born the oldest of ten children. He completed a banking apprenticeship in Edinburgh and emigrated to Canada at the age of 21 to become a farmer. He initially lived off odd jobs in Whitehorse and the Yukon Territory and was eventually employed by a bank in Dawson . There he put together a collection of ballads and poems, which was published in 1907 under the title The Songs of a Sourdough (The songs of a sourdough). Among them was the famous ballad The Shooting of Dan McGrew (German translation 1963: Das Ende des Dan MacGrew ). He had previously sent the text to a New York publishing house in a check for $ 100 to have 100 copies printed. He received the check back, along with a $ 1,000 fee check and a generous offer to publish his ballad collection. "Printed, recited, edited for the stage and film millions of times, this ballad, written on a winter night on the Yukon, made its author a rich man." The first verse begins in the German translation with the words:
“ They celebrated wildly and with loud roars / in the Malamut pub / where the ragtime kid incessantly beats the piano / maltreated in silent anger. / Behind the bar and playing poker / Dan McGrew was ready to fire; / His sweetheart looks spellbound on his luck / the whore named Lou. "
Service celebrated the rough way of life on the Klondike River in the ballad of Cheechako (1909) and in the novella The Trail of '98 (1910).
In 1912 he became a military correspondent in the Balkan War and drove an ambulance during the First World War . These experiences gave him the material for the rhymes of Red Cross Man (1916). He spent the rest of his life, including World War II, in France and Monte Carlo .
His late works did not achieve the great popularity of his first works. His autobiography appeared in two editions: Plowman of the Moon (1945) and Harper of Heaven (1948). In 1942 he played himself alongside Marlene Dietrich and John Wayne in the Alaskan western The Buccaneer in a small guest role; you can see him writing his most famous poem about Don McGrew.
In Dawson , his log cabin is a tourist attraction.
Publications
- The Shooting of Dan McGrew and other poems. Hancock House, Surrey (BC) 1989, ISBN 0-88839-224-9 - Ballads
- The Cremation of Sam McGee and other poems. Hancock House, Surrey (BC) 1989 ISBN 0-88839-223-0 - Ballads
- Country singer and guitarist Joe McDonald set to music in the 1971 studio album War War War, a cycle of poems on the First World War.
literature
- Ernst J. Martin : Robert Service. A Canadian poet and writer wrongly unknown in Germany . In: Muschelhaufen / gwf , 15, Viersen 1969
- Service, Robert William . In: Lexicon of World Literature . Volume 2, Munich 1997 ISBN 3-423-59050-5
- Barbara S. Giehmann: Writing the Northland. Jack London 's and Robert W. Service's Imaginary Geography . Würzburg 2010 ISBN 978-3-8260-4459-5
Web links
- Robert W. Service ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
Individual evidence
- ^ Ernst J. Martin: Robert Service. In: Clams. No. 15, Viersen 1969
- ^ Translation by Ernst J. Martin. In: Clams. No. 15, Viersen 1969, p. 6
- ^ Song "Jean Desprez" by Country Joe McDonald on youtube
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Service, Robert W. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Service, Robert William (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian poet and novelist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 16, 1874 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Preston , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 11, 1958 |
| Place of death | Lancieux , France |