{{Short description|Canadian writer}} {{Infobox writer | name = Arthur Stringer | image = File:Photo of Arthur Stringer.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Arthur John Stringer | birth_date = {{birth date|1874|2|26}} | birth_place = Chatham, Ontario, Canada | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|9|13|1874|2|26}} | death_place = Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, U.S. | occupation = Screenwriter, novelist | alma_mater = University of Toronto | notableworks = ''Prairie Wife, Prairie Mother, Prairie Child, Open Water'' | spouse = Jobyna Howland; Margaret Arbuthnott | children = 3 }} '''Arthur John Stringer''' (February 26, 1874 – September 13, 1950) was a Canadian novelist, screenwriter, and poet who later moved to the United States.
He published 45 works of fiction and 15 other books, in addition to writing filmscripts and articles.<ref name=house>[http://www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/node/3433 "Arthur Stringer House"], London Public Library, Web, May 7, 2011.</ref>
==Early life== Stringer was born in Chatham, Ontario.<ref name=house/> In 1884 the family moved to London, Ontario, where Charles attended London Collegiate Institute.<ref name=house/> At the Institute he founded and edited a school magazine called ''Chips.'' He then attended University College, University of Toronto from 1892 to 1894 and later studied at Oxford University.<ref name=moran/>
==Career== Stringer's first book of poetry, ''Watchers of Twilight and Other Poems,'' was published in 1894.
In 1895 he worked for the ''Montreal Herald''. At this time he was also publishing in ''Saturday Night'' and the ''Canadian Magazine''. In 1898 he got a job with the American Press Association, moved to New York City, and began publishing in ''The Atlantic'' and ''Harper's''.<ref name=house/> His first poem in ''Harper's'', "Remorse", appeared in February 1899.<ref name=harpers>"[http://www.harpers.org/subjects/ArthurStringer Profile at Harpers.org], May 8, 2011.</ref> His first novel, ''The Silver Poppy'', came out in 1903.<ref name=house/> In the same year he bought a farm on the shore of Lake Erie and married actress Jobyna Howland, known as the original Gibson Girl.{{cn|date=August 2022}} They divorced in 1914, and Stringer married his cousin, Margaret Arbuthnott.<ref name=house/>
In 1921, the Stringers moved to Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, where Arthur Stringer continued to write.<ref name=robinet>[http://www.chathamthisweek.com/2012/04/11/stringer-left-his-literary-and-cinematic-mark "Stringer left his literary and cinematic mark"]{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Karen Robinet, ''Chatham This Week'', April 11, 2012</ref>
Stringer wrote crime fiction and wilderness adventures, mainly using conventional formulae.{{cn|date=August 2022}} He wrote as well in many other genres, from social realism (his "Prairie" trilogy, 1915–1921) to psychological fiction (''The Wine of Life'' (1921).<ref name=answers/> He wrote early science fiction novels, ''The Story Without a Name'' (1924) with Russell Holman, and ''The Woman Who Couldn't Die'' (1929).<ref name=isfdb>"[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?6694 Arthur Stringer Summary Bibliography], International Science Fiction Database, ISFDB.com, May 8, 2011.</ref>
Much of his writing was for films. Film scripts on which he worked include ''The Perils Of Pauline'' (1914), ''The Hand Of Peril'' (1916), ''The House Of Intrigue'' (1919), ''Unseeing Eyes'' (1923), ''Empty Hands'' (1924), ''The Canadian'' (1926), ''The Purchase Price'' (1932), ''The Lady Fights Back'' (1937), ''Buck Benny Rides Again'' (1940) and ''The Iron Claw'' (1941).
Stringer remained a resident of New Jersey until his death in 1950, aged 76.<ref name=house/>
==Writing== thumb|Arthur Stringer
===Fiction=== Stringer's crime and adventure stories were later criticized as stereotypical and containing inaccurate representation of Canadian settings.<ref name=fetherling>D. Fetherling, "Stringer, Arthur John Arbuthnott", ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988)</ref> However, his prairie trilogy – ''Prairie Wife'' (1915), ''Prairie Mother'' (1920), and ''Prairie Child'' (1921) – has been called "an enduring contribution to Canadian literature."<ref name=answers/> The trilogy uses a diary form to tell the tale of its narrator, a New England socialite who marries a Scots-Canadian farmer.{{cn|date=August 2022}}
===Poetry=== ''The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature'' described Stringer's poetry as "undistinguished verse."<ref name=answers>"[http://www.answers.com/topic/art-stringer Arthur Stringer]", ''Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature,'' Answers.com, May 8, 2011</ref> However, author John Garvin said of his poetry "there is maintained a standard of beauty, depth of feeling, and technical power, which in Canada have had all too little recognition."<ref name=garvin>John W. Garvin, "[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/garvin/poets/stringer.html Arthur Stringer]," ''Canadian Poets'' (Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, 1916), p. 313, UPenn.edu, May 8, 2011.</ref> Garvin also similarly praised Stringer's blank verse drama ''Sappho in Leucadia''.<ref name=garvin/>
Stringer's chief claim to poetic fame today rests on his 1914 book, ''Open Water'', the first book by a Canadian poet to use free verse; in its preface he proclaimed that the modernist movement of which he was part was a "natural evolution".<ref name=moran/> Louis Dudek and Michael Gnarowski, who reprinted the ''Open Water'' preface in their anthology ''The Making of Modern Poetry In Canada,'' remarked on it: <blockquote>This book must be seen as a turning point in Canadian writing if only for the importance of the ideas advanced by Stringer in his preface. In a carefully presented, extremely well-informed account of traditional verse-making, Stringer pleaded the cause of free verse and created what must now be recognized as an early document of the struggle to free Canadian poetry from the trammels of end-rhyme, and to liberalize its methods and its substance.<ref name="norris">Ken Norris, "[http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol11/norris.htm The Beginnings of Canadian Modernism]," ''Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews,'' No. 11 (Fall/Winter, 1982), Canadian Poetry, UWO.ca, March 25, 2011</ref></blockquote>
==Legacy== thumb|right|Arthur Stringer House in London, Ontario Stringer was awarded an honorary D.Litt. by the University of Western Ontario in 1946.
Stringer is commemorated by Arthur Stringer Public School in London, Ontario, which opened in 1969.<ref name=moran>Roger Moran, [https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/arthur-john-arbuthnott-stringer/ "Arthur John Arbuthnott Stringer"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060526191437/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007755 |date=May 26, 2006 }}, ''Canadian Encyclopedia'', Dominion Institute, May 8, 2011.</ref><ref name=robinet />
The house in which Stringer lived as a boy in London, Ontario has been preserved as a historic site, '''Arthur Stringer House'''.<ref name=house/>
==Publications==
===Fiction=== [[File:Famous fantastic mysteries 195010.jpg|thumb|''The Woman Who Couldn't Die'' was reprinted in the October 1950 issue of ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'']] <ref name=dayton-smith>Geoffrey Dayton-Smith, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HPYP-a0hjLsC&q=stringer&pg=PR646 American Fiction, 1901-1925].'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U P, 1997, 646-647, Google Books, Web, May 8, 2011.</ref> * ''The Silver Poppy''. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1903. * ''Lonely O'Malley: A Story of Boy Life''. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1905.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Wire Tappers''. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1906. * ''Phantom Wires''. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1907. * ''The Under Groove''. New York: McClure Company, 1908. * ''The Gun-Runner.'' New York: B.W. Dodge & Co., 1909. * '' The Shadow''. New York: The Century Co., 1913. * ''Never-Fail Blake'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1913. * ''The Prairie Wife'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1915. * ''The Hand of Peril.'' New York: Macmillan, April 1915. * ''The Door of Dread: A Secret Service Romance.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1916. * ''The House of Intrigue''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1918. * ''The Man Who Couldn't Sleep.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1919. * '' The Prairie Mother.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1920. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1920. * ''Twin Tales: "Are All Men Alike" and "The Lost Titian".'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1921. * ''The Wine of Life''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1921. * ''The Prairie Child.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1922. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1923. * ''The Diamond Thieves.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1923. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1925. * '' The City of Peril''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. * '' Empty Hands''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1924. * and Russell Holman. ''Manhandled.'' (Illustrated with scenes from the photoplay). New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1924. * and Russell Holman. ''The Story Without a Name.'' (Illustrated with scenes from the photoplay). New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1924. * ''Power''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, c.1925. * ''In Bad With Sinbad''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1926.<ref name=openas/> * ''Night Hawk. A Novel''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1926. * ''White Hands.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1927.<ref name=openas/> * '' The Wolf Woman''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1927.<ref name=openas/> * ''Cristina and I'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1929.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Woman Who Couldn't Die''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1929.<ref name=openas/> * ''A Lady Quite Lost''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Mud Lark''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1932.<ref name=openas/> * ''Dark Soil''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1933.<ref name=openas/> * ''Marriage by Capture.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1933.<ref name=openas/> * ''Man Lost.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1934.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Wife Traders: A Tale of the North''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1936.<ref name=openas/> * ''Heather of the High Hand: A Novel of the North.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1937.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Lamp In the Valley''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Dark Wing.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1939.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Ghost Plane: A Novel of the North''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1940.<ref name=openas/> * ''A King Who Loved Old Clothes''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1941.<ref name=openas/> * ''Intruders in Eden.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1942.<ref name=openas/> * ''Shadowed Victory''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1943. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1944.<ref name=openas>[https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1163465A/Arthur_Stringer Author Search: Arthur Stringer], Open Library, Web, May 7, 2011.</ref> * ''Star in a Mist.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1943.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Devastator.'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1944.<ref name=openas/>
===Non-fiction=== * ''A Study of King Lear''. New York, 1897.{{cn|date=August 2022}} * ''Red Wine of Youth: A Life of Rupert Brooke'', 1921.
===Poetry=== * ''Watchers of Twilight, and Other Poems''. London, ON: T.H. Warren, 1894.<ref name=openas/> * ''Pauline and Other Poems.'' London, ON: T.H. Warren, 1895.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Loom of Destiny''. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1899.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Woman in the Rain, and Other Poems''. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1907. 1949.<ref name=openas/> * ''Irish Poems''. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1911. ** ''Out of Erin (Songs in Exile).'' Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1930.<ref name=openas/> * ''Open Water''. London: John Lane Co., 1914. * ''A Woman at Dusk and Other Poems''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1928.<ref name=openas/> * ''The Old Woman Remembers and Other Irish Poems''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938.<ref name=openas/> * ''New York Nocturnes.'' Toronto: Ryerson P, 1948.<ref name=openas/>
===Plays=== * ''Hephaestus: Persephone At Enna And Sappho In Leucadia''. 1903 *''The Cleverest Woman In the World and Other One-Act Dramas''. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1939.<ref name=openas/>
==Filmography== The following 22 movies were based on fiction by Arthur Stringer:
* 1912 ''The Man Who Made Good'' (short) (story) * 1914 ''The Case of Cherry Purcelle'' (short) (story) * 1916 ''The Secret Agent'' (short) (story) * 1916 ''The Breaker'' (story) * 1916 ''The Hand of Peril'' (novel ''The Hand of Peril: A Novel of Adventure'') * 1918 ''From Two to Six'' (story "The Button Thief") * 1919 ''The House of Intrigue'' (novel) * 1920 ''Are All Men Alike?'' (story "The Waffle Iron") * 1923 ''Unseeing Eyes'' (story "Snowblind") * 1924 ''Manhandled'' (story) * 1924 ''The Story Without a Name'' (novel) * 1924 ''Empty Hands'' (story) * 1925 ''The Prairie Wife'' (story) * 1925 ''Womanhandled'' (story) * 1926 ''The Canadian'' (story and scenario) * 1926 ''The Wilderness Woman'' (scenario / story) * 1926 ''Out of the Storm'' (story "The Travis Coup") * 1928 ''Half a Bride'' (story "White Hands") * 1932 ''The Purchase Price'' (story "The Mud Lark") * 1937 ''The Lady Fights Back'' (novel "Heather of the High Hand") * 1940 ''Buck Benny Rides Again'' (story) * 1941 ''The Iron Claw'' (story)
==References== {{Portal|Poetry|Biography|Canada|Ontario}} {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{wikisource}} * {{FadedPage|id=Stringer, Arthur|name=Arthur Stringer|author=yes}} * {{Gutenberg author | id=8183}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Arthur Stringer |birth=1874 |death=1950}} * {{Librivox author |id=11715}} * [https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/search.jsp?Erp=20&N=38537+38532+4294643607&view=grid Works by Arthur Stringer] at Digital Archive (Toronto Public Library) * [http://www.harpers.org/subjects/ArthurStringer Arthur Stringer in ''Harper's Magazine''] - 16 poems. * {{Find a Grave|7086448}} * {{IMDb name|0834553}} * [http://manybooks.net/series/296.html Prairie Stories series at manybooks.net]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stringer, Arthur John Arbuthnott}} Category:1874 births Category:1950 deaths Category:20th-century Canadian male writers Category:20th-century Canadian novelists Category:20th-century Canadian poets Category:Canadian expatriates in the United States Category:Canadian male poets Category:Canadian male novelists Category:Canadian modernist poets Category:People from Chatham-Kent Category:University of Toronto alumni