Thomas Stinson Jarvis, Canadian author.

Wollock, Jeffrey Lee (1968) Thomas Stinson Jarvis, Canadian author. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The present study is intended to provide a general introduction to the life and works of the Toronto-born author and lawyer, Thomas Stinson Jarvis (1854-1926). As far as can be ascertained, this is the first such study ever undertaken. -- The justification for the study is provided in a brief general discussion in Chapter 1, in which some of the problems involved in the research are also mentioned. A review of Jarvis’s biography is afforded by the second chapter. The following three chapters deal with Jarvis’s ideas and philosophies in relation to the period in which he was writing. Finally, in Chapter 6 his fictional works are surveyed and criticized. -- Special notice should be made of the bibliography, which lists every known printed source of information on Jarvis, and for the first time provides a list of every one of his known books, articles, and reviews. -- It is hoped that this study will help to bring about renewed interest in this forgotten Canadian author. -- The first of Jarvis’s six books was published in Toronto when he was only twenty-one; the last, in Los Angeles, a few years before his death. But the great bulk of Jarvis’s writing was done in New York City between 1892 and 1903. His canon comprises a book of travel in the Middle East; a semi- or pseudo-scientific book which applies Darwin’s principles to the domain of “mind science”; a purported history of the Druid domination of the world; and three admirable novels; also a number of philosophical essays; a large amount of writing on the subject of yachting; and quite a few theatre reviews. -- The study is motivated by the idea that modern students of Canadian literature would find Jarvis a most interesting figure once introduced to his works; and with some familiarity with this life and times, their knowledge would be broad enough to allow them to undertake their own further investigations.

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