Cook, George Cram

Cook, George Cram

▪ American writer
born Oct. 7, 1873, Davenport, Iowa, U.S.
died Jan. 14, 1924, Delphi, Greece

      novelist, poet, and playwright who, with his wife, Susan Glaspell (Glaspell, Susan) (q.v.), established the Provincetown Players in 1915, which gave a forward thrust to the U.S. theatre.

      After completing his B.A. degree at Harvard in 1893, he studied at Heidelberg in 1894 and the Université de Genève the following year. He then taught English literature at the University of Iowa (1895–99) and at Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. (1902). Cook left the academic world to support his literary work as a small farmer, living in the gardener's cottage of his family's estate in Davenport. The influence of Friedrich Nietzsche is reflected in his first novel, Roderick Taliaferro (1903), a historical romance set in the Mexico of Emperor Maximilian. One of his hired workers, Floyd Dell (Dell, Floyd), who later became a novelist, converted him to Socialism (Cook appears as Tom Alden in Dell's Moon-Calf, 1920). Cook's novel The Chasm (1911) explores the conflict experienced by an American girl in Russia and the United States between Nietzschean aristocratic individualism and Socialist ideas, with the latter winning.

      Cook worked with Dell as associate literary editor of the Chicago Evening Post and in 1913 married the novelist and playwright Susan Glaspell (Glaspell, Susan), also from Davenport. While summering at Provincetown, Mass., they launched the Provincetown Players in a former fish warehouse, initially to perform their jointly written one-act play Suppressed Desires (1915, published 1920), a satire on psychoanalysis. Cook continued with the group in New York City's Greenwich Village as the Playwrights' Theatre, performing native U.S. plays. Despite the success of their venture, Cook was dissatisfied with cultural life in the United States and in 1921 moved to Greece, where for three years he lived among the rural people. His poems Greek Coins appeared in 1925, and his play The Athenian Women was published the next year in Athens.

Additional Reading
Robert Károly Sarlós, Jig Cook and the Provincetown Players: Theatre in Ferment (1982).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cook, George Cram — (1873 1924)    Born in Davenport, Iowa, Jig Cook studied at the Universities of Iowa, Heidelberg, and Geneva as well as at Harvard University. He became a professor of Greek, a novelist, and most significantly, the intellectual leader of the… …   The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater

  • George Cram Cook — or Jig Cook (October 7, 1873 – January 14, 1924) was an American novelist, poet, and playwright. He was a lover of ancient Greece, an idealist who dreamt of spiritual communism. Cook was born in Davenport, Iowa. He died in Greece, and is buried… …   Wikipedia

  • George Cook — may refer to: *George Cook (opera singer) (1925 ndash;1995) English opera singer *George Cook (footballer) (b.1904), English professional footballer *George Cook (footballer born 1895) (1895 ndash;1980), English professional footballer *George… …   Wikipedia

  • Cook — /kook/, n. 1. Frederick Albert, 1865 1940, U.S. physician and polar explorer. 2. George Cram /kram/, 1873 1924, U.S. novelist, dramatist, and poet. 3. Captain James, 1728 79, English navigator and explorer in the S Pacific, Antarctic Ocean, and… …   Universalium

  • Ralph Adams Cram — Ralph Adams Cram, 1911 Born December 16, 1863 Hampton Falls, New Hampshire Died September 22, 1942 …   Wikipedia

  • Glaspell, Susan — ▪ American dramatist and novelist in full  Susan Keating Glaspell  born July 1, 1876, Davenport, Iowa, U.S. died July 27, 1948, Provincetown, Mass.       American dramatist and novelist who, with her husband, George Cram Cook (Cook, George Cram) …   Universalium

  • Provincetown Players — U.S. theatrical company. It was founded in 1915 by a group of writers and artists in Provincetown, Mass., to encourage new and experimental works. Among their first productions, which were often staged in members homes, was the first play by… …   Universalium

  • Provincetown players —    George Cram Jig Cook was the visionary leader who rallied the playwrights and scene designers of the new plays presented on the wharf in Provincetown in summer 1916 to continue the venture that fall in Greenwich Village in New York City.… …   The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater

  • Κουκ, Τζορτζ Κραμ — (George Cram Cook, ΗΠΑ 1783 – Δελφοί 1924). Αμερικανός λόγιος και φιλέλληνας. Για αρκετό χρονικό διάστημα δίδαξε στο πανεπιστήμιο του Οχάιο. Ίδρυσε δικό του θέατρο, στο οποίο ανέβασε δύο έργα ελληνικής έμπνευσης, την Πηγή και τις Αθηναίες. Όταν… …   Dictionary of Greek

  • Provincetown Players — The Provincetown Players are an acting troupe that started on July 15, 1915.BeginningsThey began when a group of writers and artists who were vacationing in Provincetown, Massachusetts presented their plays on July 15, 1915 on the veranda of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”