Robert Lowry (writer)

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Robert Lowry, ca. 1955

Robert James Collas Lowry (28 March 1919 — December 5, 1994) was an American novelist, short story writer, and independent press publisher.

Lowry was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a literary wunderkind, beginning writing at the age of eight; within a year, he had stories published in a Cincinnati daily newspaper. He graduated from Withrow High School in 1937, after which he entered the University of Cincinnati.

With illustrator James Flora, he founded The Little Man Press in 1938. Lowry and Flora published dozens of chapbooks under the Little Man imprint from 1939 to 1942. Lowry authored many titles (some under such pseudonyms as James Caldwell), but the Little Man imprint also published writing by William Saroyan, Thomas Mann, Jesse Stuart, Charles Henri Ford, William Edward March Campbell, and others. Following Flora's departure, Lowry continued to sporadically publish titles under a succession of revived Little Man imprints.

In 1942 Lowry was drafted, and served three years in the US military during World War II, including assignments in Africa and Italy. After his discharge, he divorced his first wife, wrote critically acclaimed fiction (his fans included Ernest Hemingway), and penned an autobiographical novel (The Big Cage). His published works included Casualty (1946), Find Me in Fire (1948; cover teaser: "She Was Young But Ripe For Love"), The Wolf That Fed Us (1949), and The Violent Wedding (1953). His short stories appeared in Mademoiselle, New Directions, Collier's, Horizon, The American Mercury, and other periodicals. A collection of his short fiction, Happy New Year, Kamerades!, was published by Doubleday in 1954.

In 1950, he won the O. Henry Award for his short story "Be Nice to Mr. Campbell." Another Lowry story, That Kind of Woman, was adapted for a 1959 feature film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Sophia Loren.

Lowry had dark impulses, which were exacerbated by liquor. "In Cincinnati," recalled Flora, "he would take one drink and go berserk, throwing himself on the floor, saying, 'I'm a rug! I'm a rug! Step on me!'" Lowry's later writings recounted his wartime experiences, and he also wrote colorfully about life in New York's Greenwich Village during the emergence of the beatnik scene.

In 1952, following a second marriage and the birth of a son, Beirne, Lowry was diagnosed a schizophrenic and forced to undergo electric shock therapy. He spent the rest of his life passing in and out of "insane asylums" (his preferred term), squalid hotels, and turbulent relationships with women (including two more marriages). In 1967, the increasingly disturbed Lowry attempted to revive the American Nazi Party. He continued writing, but because of his increasingly erratic behavior, reputable publishers rejected his manuscripts. During the final decades of his life, Lowry self-published many additional works.

He died in Cincinnati, at age 75.