Robert Barr

Born: 09/16/1850   Glasgow , Scotland
Died: 10/21/1912
Parents: Robert (Carpenter) and Jane Barr
Spouse: Eva Bennett
Children: two

Writings

Image Title Genre Audience Publisher Date
The Selected Stories of Robert Barr
- Edited by John Parr
Fiction Adult University of Ottawa Press 1977
Short Modern Plays
- Contributor with S. Lewis Ransom and edited by S. R. Littlewood
Drama Adult New York: Macmillan 1939
The Helping Hand and Other Stories Fiction Adult London: Mills & Boon 1920
A Woman in a Thousand Fiction Adult Hodder & Stroughton 1913
The Palace of Logs Fiction Adult London: Mills & Boon 1912
The Sword Maker Fiction Adult New York, F.A. Stokes Co. 1910
The Measure of the Rule
- Satirical novel of experiences teaching
Fiction Adult Constable and Appleton 1908
The O'Ruddy: A Romance
- With Stephen Crane
Drama Adult New York : Frederick A. Stokes 1903
A Prince of Good Fellows
- First published as The King Dines
Fiction Adult New York, McClure, Phillips & Co. 1902
The Unchanging East
- Middle East -- Description and travel.
Non Fiction , Travel Adult London, Chatto & Windus 1900
Revenge Fiction Adult New York, F.A. Stokes Co. 1896
In a Steamer Chair and Other Shipboard Stories
- As Luke Sharp.
Fiction , Short Stories Adult New York, Cassell Publishing Company 1892
Strange Happenings
- As Luke Sharp
Fiction Adult Dunkerley 1883
Other writings:
- Wrote several plays in the early 1900s
Drama Adult
What is the aim or goal of your writing: In all, Barr's career seemed settled, but he was already interested in making his living by the pen. A planned summer boating vacation with school chum Alexander McNeil was to provide his first entry into the world of publication. As Alison Janice McNabb Cox wrote in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, “Barr's humorous fictional account of their boating trip along the shores of Lake Erie began with hypothetical absurdities related in letters written to McNeil long before their actual departure, letters that became the nucleus for what was to be his first published work.” Barr sent out this, his first literary effort, to Canadian publishers and newspapers but with no success. Since Canada seemed unreceptive to his prose, he gave the U.S. papers a try, and the Detroit Free Press ran the serialized piece, entitled “A Dangerous Journey,” from October 10 to December 12 of 1875. Barr began his writing career under the pseudonym Luke Sharp--a name that must have tickled the humorist's appreciation for puns when he spotted it on an undertaker's sign. He would use it throughout the early years of his career, and revived it periodically long after he had begun publishing under his own name. Barr's wit earned him the attention of Free Press publisher William E. Quimby, who soon offered the budding author a staff position reporting for the paper.

May inquiries be sent to you about doing workshops, readings: No

Donated books to the Authors & Illustrators database project: No

Skills:
Author

Education:

Degree Institution Location Date
Master of Busniness Administration (MBA) Otterbein University Westerville , OH 1987

Career:

Position Organization Location Date
Co-Publisher
- With Jerome K. Jerome (1892-95, 1902-1911)
Idler 1892 -1895
Editor
- London Edition
The Detroit Free Press London, England 1881 -1891
Journalist The Detroit Free Press Detroit 1876
Served
- Canadian Militia Organization
St. Thomas Volunteers 1866
Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Journalist, and Editor
Teacher and Headmaster

Other Resources:

Last Modified On: 8/10/2016 12:00:00 AM