Theodore Goodridge Roberts

George Edwards Theodore Goodridge Roberts (July 7, 1877 – February 24, 1953) was a Canadian novelist and poet. He was the author of thirty-four novels and over one hundred published stories and poems.

He was the brother of poet Charles G. D. Roberts, and the father of painter Goodridge Roberts.

Life Roberts was born in Fredericton, to Emma Wetmore Bliss and Anglican Rev. George Goodridge Roberts. The poet Charles G. D. Roberts, and the writers William Carman Roberts and Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald, were his siblings.

In 1897, he moved to New York City, living with his brothers Charles and William and working at The Independent. In 1898 the magazine sent him to Cuba, as a special correspondent, to cover the Spanish–American War. While on the island he contracted malaria—he was sent back to New York and consulted specialists, who sent him back to Fredericton "to die."

An unnamed surgeon saved Roberts's life, and he was nursed back to heath by Frances Seymour Allen (whom he would subsequently marry). The next year he travelled to Newfoundland, where he helped to found and edit The Newfoundland Magazine. He published his first book of poetry Northand Lyrics, an anthology edited by Charles G.D. Roberts and featuring his three siblings in 1899, and his first novel, The House of Isstens, in 1900.

In 1901, Roberts sailed on a barkentine to Brazil. In 1902, he returned to Fredericton and briefly edited a second magazine, The Kit-Bag.

Roberts averaged three novels a year from 1908 until 1914. At that time his "many novels of adventure and romance" already enjoyed a "wide popularity in English-speaking lands."

A former militiaman, Roberts re-enlisted in 1914 when World War I broke out, serving as a lieutenant in the 12th Canadian Infantry Battalion, commanded by Lt.-Col. Harry Fulton McLeod of Fredericton—Roberts' entire family followed him to England.

Of the poems in his 1926 collection, The Lost Shipmate, The Encyclopedia of Literature commented: "Had this volume appeared forty years earlier it might have won for Theodore a reputation equal to that of his brother Charles or of Bliss Carman. Poems such as 'The sandbar' and 'Magic' are unmatched in Canadian poetry for a facility and clarity of image suggestive of high-realist painting.

The Merriest Knight The writing that Roberts is most likely to be recognized for today is The Merriest Knight, his collection of Arthurian tales. This looks like the one book by Roberts currently in print In 2001, Mike Ashley, editor of the Mammoth publishing group, brought them out under his Green Knight imprint.

New Canadian Library Two of Roberts's novels were issued as part of the New Canadian Library series published by McClelland and Stewart: The Harbor Master (#63 in the series) and The Red Feathers (#127).

Recognition The University of New Brunswick awarded Roberts a Doctorate of literature in 1930. Two Shall Be Born. New York: Cassell, 1913. The Wasp. Toronto: Bell & Cockburn, 1914. In the High Woods. London: John. Long, 1916. Forest Fugitives. Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart, 1917. The Islands of Adventure. London; Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, 1918. Jess of the River. London: John Long, 1918. The Exiled Lover. London: John Long, 1919. Honest Fool. New York: F.A. Munsey, 1925. The Master of the Moosehorn and Other Backwoods Stories. London; Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919. Moonshine. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1920?]. The Lure of Piper's Glen. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1921. The Fighting Starkleys. George Varian illus. Boston: Page, 1922. Musket House. 1922. Tom Akerley: his adventures in the tall ≈timber and at Gaspard's clearing on the Indian River. Boston: L.C. Page, 1923. Green Timber Thoroughbreds. New York: Garden City, 1924. The Stranger from Up-Along. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, Page & co., 1924. The Red Pirogue: a tale of adventure in the Canadian wilds. Boston: L.C. Page, 1924. The Oxbow Wizard. Garden City, NY: Garden City Pub., 1924. The Lost Shipmate. Toronto: Ryerson, 1926. The Golden Highlanders. Boston: L.C. Page, 1929. The Merriest Knight: The Collected Arthurian Tales of Theodore Goodridge Roberts. Mike Ashley ed. Green Knight, 2001.

Non-fiction Patrols and Trench Raids. 1916. Battalion Histories. 1918. Thirty Canadian V.Cs 23 April 1915 to 30 March 1918, with Robin Richards and Stuart Martin. London: Skeffington, 1918. Loyalists: a compilation of histories, biographies and genealogies of United empire loyalists and their descendants. Toronto: T. Goodridge Roberts, 1937.

Poetry Northland Lyrics, William Carman Roberts, Theodore Roberts & Elizabeth Roberts Macdonald; selected and arranged with a prologue by Charles G.D. Roberts and an epilogue by Bliss Carman. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1899. Seven Poems. private, 1925. chapbook. The Lost Shipmate. Toronto: Ryerson Chapbook, 1926. The Leather Bottle. Toronto: Ryerson, 1934. That Far River: Selected Poems of Theodore Goodridge Roberts. Martin Ware, ed. London, ON: Canadian Poetry Press, 1998.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy St. Thomas University.